Cognitive function in orienteering and road runners
Description
Data Battery of Cognitive Tests performed by Orienteers and Road Runners: RAVLT (List A/B recall, recognition), Five Point (number of figures), Corsi Cubes (forward/backward span), Trail Making Task (Part A/B completion times), Symbol Digit (correct responses during 90 seconds ), FAS (number of words), Stroop Effect (time ratio between the incongruent stimulus and the neutral stimulus ). Orienteering (Or): Competitive class (IOF classification system), years of experience, weekly training frequency, weekly training volume, age, sex. Road Runners (RR): Best time in [distance] competitions, years of experience, weekly training frequency, weekly training volume, age, sex. Perceived Affect: Feeling scale, Felt arousal scale scores before, during, and after the battery of cognitive tests. PSQI: Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index. PHQ-9: Patient Health Questionnaire (major depressive episode tracking) Participants The participants were twenty orienteers (16 male and 4 female) and twenty road runners (15 male and 5 female). Groups were identical in terms of age, formal education level, sex distribution, years of practice and weekly training frequency. Procedures We recruited athletes over several months, meeting them at their training facilities or competition events, aiming to match the RR and Or groups in terms of their demographic characteristics and training levels. Therefore, it is not a convenience sample, but one selected to represent athletes with comparable competitive ambitions. The battery of cognitive tests was conducted by a single evaluator trained by an experienced neuropsychologist who determined the cognitive tests that could be administered by non-psychologists. The evaluator was a high-level orienteering athlete with easy access within the sports community. The first test to be administered was always the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), as this test requires a delayed recall component 20 to 30 minutes after its initiation. Other six tests were administered in a randomized order using a die. All tests were administered in their original pencil-and-paper version, widely used in neuropsychological clinical facilities. The digitalization of data was performed by two independent researchers. Discrepancies were discussed for a final approval of data transposition from paper to a digital spreadsheet. At the end of cognitive tests, athletes were asked to register their current training status and demographic profile. They then completed the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) (Buysse et al., 1989) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) (Ford et al., 2020). This procedure positions this study as cross-sectional, observational, and exploratory.
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Steps to reproduce
Battery of Cognitive Tests performed by Orienteers and Road Runners: RAVLT (List A/B recall, recognition), Five Point (number of figures), Corsi Cubes (forward/backward span), Trail Making Task (Part A/B completion times), Symbol Digit (correct responses during 90 seconds ), FAS (number of words), Stroop Effect (time ratio between the incongruent stimulus and the neutral stimulus ). Procedures We recruited athletes over several months, meeting them at their training facilities or competition events, aiming to match the RR and Or groups in terms of their demographic characteristics and training levels. Therefore, it is not a convenience sample, but one selected to represent athletes with comparable competitive ambitions. The battery of cognitive tests was conducted by a single evaluator trained by an experienced neuropsychologist who determined the cognitive tests that could be administered by non-psychologists. The evaluator was a high-level orienteering athlete with easy access within the sports community. The first test to be administered was always the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), as this test requires a delayed recall component 20 to 30 minutes after its initiation. Other six tests were administered in a randomized order using a die. All tests were administered in their original pencil-and-paper version, widely used in neuropsychological clinical facilities. The digitalization of data was performed by two independent researchers. Discrepancies were discussed for a final approval of data transposition from paper to a digital spreadsheet. At the end of cognitive tests, athletes were asked to register their current training status and demographic profile. They then completed the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) (Buysse et al., 1989) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) (Ford et al., 2020).