The relationship between esports and cognitive performance has recently gained increasing interest in the scientific community. However, our knowledge of the effects of acute sprint exercise (SE) on game performance and cognitive performance of esports players (as compared to age-matched controls) is scant. To address this gap, this study using a between-subjects design with pretest-posttest comparisons recruited amateur esports players aged between 18 and 35 years, and healthy age-matched controls who did not play esports games. The participants performed the Go/No-go test, Tracking Test, and the First Person Shooter (FPS) game Valorant immediately before and 5 and 30 min after SE. In addition to the behavioral performance, changes in the cortical hemodynamics of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) were recorded before and after the acute physical exercise while playing Valorant using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The results show that amateur esports players have superior performance in both game performance (p < .001) and specific measures of cognitive performance (i.e., Tracking Test, p < .05), regardless of the sessions. After the acute physical exercise, the gaming performance in both groups improved, and amateur esports players showed a higher accuracy in the Go/No-go task 30 min after SE. Regarding PFC cortical hemodynamics, no significant difference was noticed in the oxygenation values of both groups between pre and post tests, and between-group differences (p > .05). In conclusion, our study provides evidence that (i) amateur esports players have superior cognitive performance in specific domains and (ii) an acute bout of physical exercise can increase the gaming performance of both amateur esports players and healthy age-matched controls.

Highly developed cognitive abilities are an important prerequisite for reaching elite athletic levels. This study aimed to investigate the effect of an acute sprint interval training (SIT) session on the cognitive performance of amateur and elite players. Eighteen amateur and ten elite male basketball players were included in this study. They were asked to perform an acute SIT consisting of the Wingate Test (i.e., four bouts of 30 s all-out sprints) on a cycle ergometer, interspersed with 4 min of active recovery. Before and after the acute SIT, three cognitive tests (i.e., Change Detection Test, Timewall Test, Mackworth Clock Test) were performed. Exercise-induced changes in cognitive performance and between-group differences were analyzed. We did not observe significant between-group differences in the performance of any cognitive test at the pretest, but elite basketball players outperformed the amateur players in specific measures of the Change Detection Test and Timewall Test after the acute SIT (p < 0.05). In addition, for the Clock Test, only the elite basketball players’ performance improved from pre- to posttest. The current study’s findings suggest that male elite basketball players, compared to amateur basketball players, can preserve their cognitive performance after an acute bout of SIT.

Although in recent years, there have been many studies to determine the cognitive performance of athletes, there are significant differences in the methodological approaches of these studies. Therefore, this methodology‐focused systematic review aims to analyze the application methods of cognitive test studies with athletes and to provide standard recommendations for further studies. For this purpose, three electronic databases (Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus) were searched using predetermined keywords. As a result of the screening, 25 studies were included in the review. The result of this systematic review focused on the methodology of applying cognitive tests and observed considerable heterogeneity in methodological procedures applied in studies investigating the cognitive performance of athletes. The findings of this review highlight the need for the development of standardized procedures for the assessment of cognitive performance in future research while offering practical recommendations for researchers and coaches working in this area.

In recent years, organised and competitive video gaming, esports, has gained enormous popularity in many parts of the world, contributing to the growing professionalisation of this sports branch. To become or remain a professional esports player, individuals practice video gaming for several hours a day while remaining in a sitting posture which may not only lead to a decrease in training quality in the short term (eg, due to cognitive fatigue) but also put them at a higher risk for negative health events in the long-term (eg, overuse injuries). Thus, interrupting periods of prolonged video gaming in a sitting posture with acute physical exercise is strongly recommended for esports players even though the optimal dosage of acute physical exercise breaks remains unclear. To address this gap, we propose in this viewpoint that traditional concepts of exercise prescription and dosage determination using the variables frequency, intensity, time (also referred to as duration) and type of physical exercise (ie, abbreviated with the acronym FITT) should be complemented by the variable density which characterises the timing of consecutive bouts of acute physical exercise during an esports session.