Sport-specific demands on sustained attention in elite athletes: a novel within-subjects approach for investigation

Background Research has primarily examined between-group differences in athletes’ cognition, and particularly sustained attention. More nuanced approaches are needed to better characterize athletes’ attentional abilities. Objective To examine associations between sport type and traditional Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) indices, and to apply a novel method to characterize within-person fluctuations in sustained attention performance. Methods Participants were 198 elite athletes from a regional sport training and development organization in Toronto, Canada ( M age = 17.67 years, SD = 4.58; 56.57% female). Linear regressions explored associations between sport type (team, speed-strength, precision-skill) and SART indices (speed, accuracy, variability), controlling for age and sex. The variance time course procedure was then used to examine intraindividual fluctuations in sustained attention and to explore whether different patterns of performance emerge across sport types. Results Using a pre-established sport classification system, team sport athletes were significantly more accurate on the SART than speed-strength ( B = −0.81, p = .002) and precision-skill ( B = −0.45, p = .016) athletes; however, the groups did not differ in speed or variability. The variance time course procedure showed that athletes fluctuated between ‘in the zone’ and ‘out of the zone’ attentional states, with ‘out of the zone’ performance marked by greater variability and more error-prone responding. We also provide preliminary evidence that patterns of performance variability differ across sport types. Conclusion Different sports may place distinct demands on specific dimensions of attentional performance. Within-person approaches are warranted to advance the field toward more precise assessment of athletes’ cognitive functioning.