Working memory and inhibitory control in college baseball players

Abstract

Optimal performance in sport requires neuropsychological processes such as executive functions. Among these are working memory (WM) and inhibitory control (IC). It has been described that those who practice self-paced sports such as baseball obtain scores located in the high range in tasks corresponding to the WM and IC, as well as batters tend to obtain higher scores in tasks of inhibitory control compared to those who do not hit and athletes from other sports. This study evaluates the differences in the performance of university baseball players in IC and WM tasks and their relationship with the time practicing this sport. Thirty-two players belonging to a university baseball team were evaluated by means of subtests belonging to Battery BANFE-2. The results show scores corresponding to the high range in the tasks corresponding to the WM and the IC for all participants. Significant differences were found in CI scores between hitters and pitched (p <.01). In the TM tasks the differences were not significant (p <.5). The results obtained support the hypothesis that hitters obtain higher scores than in IC than non-hitters and that baseball players in general have a high performance in capacities such as IC and WM, so it can be inferred that the demands of baseball they are an important factor in the development of processes such as those addressed in this study.