2026/01/19 by Jack Brimmell, Naomi A. Lee, Naomi Lee +1
Medicine · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies #Sport Psychology and Performance #Sports Performance and Training
paper · doi:10.1177/00315125261418880
crossref issued 2026/01/19 · crossref published 2026/01/19 · crossref published-online 2026/01/19 · openalex publication_date 2026/01/19 · crossref created 2026/01/20 · openalex created_date 2026/01/21 · crossref deposited 2026/05/01 · crossref indexed 2026/07/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Research suggests that sporting experts show better response inhibition. Less is known about how expert athletes use cognitive inhibition. Experts may cognitively inhibit, or 'forget', previous errors via an expertise-induced-amnesia which suggests that experts have impoverished episodic memory due to the reduced task attention when performing well-rehearsed actions. This amnesia may be relevant at low-pressure, but most interestingly may be more of a factor at high-pressure. The aim of the present study was to examine whether sporting expertise predicted response inhibition (effectiveness and efficiency) and cognitive inhibition (error awareness) at low-pressure and high-pressure, respectively. Forty-five participants from various sports (static, interceptive or strategic) completed a measure of sporting expertise and a modified Stop Signal Task under two pressure conditions (manipulated via divergent task instruction). Regression results suggested that expertise only significantly predicted response inhibition effectiveness and efficiency at high-pressure. Interestingly, error awareness at high- and low-pressure were independent of sporting expertise. Finally, change scores across pressure conditions were small and near zero for all participants, not just experts, suggesting that all individuals performed similarly across low- and high-pressure conditions. Sporting expertise appears to facilitate response inhibition at high-pressure but the exact methods in which experts 'forget' errors and maintain performance remains unknown.