Evaluating The Transfer Of Game Intelligence: A Comparative Study Of Cognitive Skills In Soccer And Rowing Athletes

The term "game intelligence" encompasses cognitive functions such as sustained attention, vigilance, and visual search. These skills are crucial for athletic performance, enabling athletes to rapidly process information and adapt to dynamic game situations. In collegiate athletics, where multi-sport participation is common, the extent to which these cognitive skills transfer across sports remains uncertain. Investigating the potential transfer of cognitive skills between sports could inform the development of training programs designed to enhance cognitive adaptability and overall athletic performance. PURPOSE: To compare sustained attention, vigilance, and visual search between soccer and rowing athletes to examine potential differences in game intelligence. METHODS: This secondary analysis used data on exercise and cognitive training effects on cognitive processing. Participants were Division II collegiate student-athletes (soccer: n = 12; rowing: n = 10), chosen for the distinct cognitive demands of each sport. Assessments included detection and bias scores for the SART2 (sustained attention), Macworth Clock (vigilance), and response times on a Visual Search test with 5, 10, 15, and 20 distractors. A one-way ANOVA was conducted in Jamovi (v2.6.2) with an alpha of 0.05 to compare cognitive performance between groups. RESULTS: A one-way ANOVA indicated significant differences in visual search performance between the soccer and rowing groups across all distractor levels (5, 10, 15, and 20): F(1,20) = 40.93, p < .001; F(1,20) = 37.68, p < .001; F(1,20) = 22.77, p < .001; and F(1,20) = 24.76, p < .001, respectively. Rowers exhibited faster visual-spatial processing speeds than soccer players. No significant differences were found in sustained attention or vigilance. CONCLUSIONS: This study partially supports the transfer of game intelligence across sports, with significant differences found in visual search performance but not in sustained attention or vigilance. These results suggest that while some cognitive skills may generalize, others are more sport-specific. Targeting core cognitive skills in training could enhance multi-sport athletes' adaptability and performance.