The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of mental fatigue on passing decision‐making in professional soccer athletes. A controlled and counterbalanced cross‐over design was adopted consisting of three visits with a 1‐week interval between sessions. Twenty professional soccer male athletes participated in three randomized conditions divided into three visits: control, 15‐min Stroop task, and 30‐min Stroop task. Inhibitory control was accessed by the Stroop task (accuracy and response time) before and after induced mental fatigue protocol. The athletes played a training match (90‐min) following the experimental conditions. The Game Performance Assessment Instrument (GPAI) was used for the passing decision‐making analysis. The GPAI analysis showed impaired passing decision‐making performance following the 30‐min Stroop task compared with the 15‐min and control condition (F _(2,17) = 6.99, p = .01). Moreover, an increase in response time during the Stroop task was found following 30‐min Stroop task condition (F _(2,17) = 6.57, p = .03) compared to 15‐min of Stroop task and control conditions. Prolonged cognitive tasks may be considered a mediating factor in passing decision‐making performance in male professional soccer athletes throughout a full‐length training match. Thus, athletes should avoid highly demanding‐cognitive tasks before a soccer match. Future studies are required to explore more ecological cognitive tasks to induce mental fatigue (i.e. smartphones and video‐games) and their effects on other performance indicators (e.g. physical, technical, tactical) in a full‐length training match setting.

The objective of this study was to analyse the effect of the use of social networks in smartphones or playing video games on the passing decision-making performance in professional soccer athletes. Participants were 25 male professional soccer athletes (mean ± SD: age 23.4 ± 2.8 years). The participants performed three randomised conditions divided into three groups: control (CON), smartphone (SMA), and video game (VID). Before and after each experimental condition, the Stroop Task assessed the level of induced mental fatigue. Then, the athletes performed a simulated soccer match. A CANON® camera recorded the matches for further analysis on passing decision-making performance. A group effect was identified (p < .01) with impairment on passing decision-making performance for the SMA (p = .01, ES = 0.5) and VID (p = .01, ES = 0.5) conditions. We concluded that the use of social networks on smartphones and/or playing video games right before official soccer matches might impair the passing decision-making performance in professional soccer athletes.

This study aimed to analyze the effect of playing videogames and using social media applications on smartphones on decision-making and countermovement jump (CMJ) performance in amateur boxers. Twenty one boxers were enrolled in the study and were randomly assigned to all three experimental conditions [smartphone (30SMA), videogame (30VID), and control (CON)]. CMJ was measured before and 30-min after each experimental condition. The athletes ran simulated combat recorded for decision-making analysis. The boxers watched coaching videos (CON), used social media applications on smartphones (30SMA), and played video games (30VID) for 30 min just before the combat simulation. Both attack and defense decision-making performance were worse in both 30SMA and 30VID conditions compared to the CON condition (p = 0.001). Regarding CMJ, despite no condition effect (p = 0.96) been obtained, a time effect (p = 0.001) was observed; So, it was found a decrease in CMJ performance after all experimental conditions (p = 0.001), with no difference between them. Using social media applications on smartphones and playing video game impairs decision-making performance in amateur boxers, with no harms for CMJ performance.

The objective was to analyze the effect of mental fatigue induced by a prolonged period of a sport-based videogame on decision-making skill and visual search behaviour in basketball players. Sixteen male basketball players participated in the study. The experiment was a randomised counterbalanced crossover design. They underwent the two experimental conditions [Control (CON) and videogame (VID)], interspersed by a one-week washout interval. We measured decision-making skill and visual search behaviour before (baseline) and after cognitive manipulations (VID and CON) in the two experimental sessions. Accuracy decreased, and the decision-making response time increased only in the VID condition (p < 0.05). The number of fixations only changed for the VID condition (p < 0.05), while the duration of fixations remained similar in both experimental conditions (p > 0.05). The mental fatigue induced by sport-based videogame impaired decision-making and altered visual search behaviour in basketball players.

Background: The passing decision-making performance in volleyball is important because it determines the quality of a team’s attack. However, no study has analysed the effect of imagery training on passing decision-making performance in young volleyball athletes. Purpose: The objective was to analyse the effect of eight weeks of imagery training on passing decision-making performance. Method: Participants were 33 young male athletes (under 17 years [U-17]). Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: experimental (EG, n = 17) and control group (CG, n = 16). The CG watched videos of advertisements, while EG participated in the imagery training. A cognitive-general imagery programme was adopted, that asks the athletes to imagine themselves executing passes during a competitive event (e.g. reception of the service with variations of speed and displacement, pass to middle attacker, pass to other attackers, and pass with projection of the body on the ground). The passing decision-making was evaluated in a simulation of a volleyball official game. The analysis of actions was based on the Game Performance Assessment instrument. A heart rate monitor was adopted as an indicator of the autonomic nervous system response during the sessions for the EG and CG. Results: The results revealed a group versus intervention interaction (p < .01) for the passing decision-making, with improvement only in the EG (p = .01). A statistically significant difference in heart rate was identified between the groups (p = .01), with a higher value in the EG. Conclusions: It was concluded that imagery training enhanced passing decision-making performance.