Differences in Attentional Orienting Among Combat Sports Athletes, Closed-Skill Athletes, and Sedentary Individuals

This study aimed to investigate differences in attentional orienting among combat sport athletes, closed-skill athletes, and sedentary individuals using the Posner cueing paradigm, with reaction time and response accuracy examined as behavioral indices of attentional orienting. A total of 97 participants aged 18–25 years were classified into three groups: closed-skill athletes (n = 30), combat sport athletes (n = 35), and sedentary individuals (n = 32). Cognitive performance was assessed through the Posner cueing task, which included 100 trials comprising valid and invalid cue conditions. Reaction time in valid (RTvalid) and invalid (RTinvalid) trials, along with response accuracy (Racc), were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc tests. The results revealed no significant group differences in RTvalid or RTinvalid. However, a significant difference emerged for Racc values (p = 0.013). Closed-skill athletes demonstrated significantly higher accuracy than combat sport athletes, while sedentary individuals showed intermediate performance. These findings suggest that accuracy-based indicators—rather than reaction time—more effectively distinguish cognitive performance among combat, closed-skill, and sedentary groups, with closed-skill athletes demonstrating a clear advantage in attentional orienting. Future research should investigate these group-specific differences using longitudinal and multi-component cognitive designs to more precisely determine how varying sport demands contribute to the development of attentional efficiency over time.