Sport Participation Type and Cognitive Function in Collegiate Student-Athletes

Abstract Considerable concerns have been raised regarding potential neurocognitive deficits associated with participation in contact and collision sports. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of sport-type participation on cognitive performance during the trail making test. We assessed 543 student-athletes from two universities, classified as collision, contact, or non-contact sport athletes, who performed the trail making test. Three analyses of covariance compared performance with common confounders as covariates. There was no difference between trail making test-A (p=0.381) and trail making test-B (p =0.063) times. There was a significant main effect for trail making test difference performance (non-contact: 17.3+9.1 s, contact: 20.1+10.5 s, and collision: 24.3+11.8 s; F=6.278, p=0.002, and η p 2=0.020). There was a significant post-hoc difference only between the contact/collision and non-contact groups (p=0.001 and d=0.66). Collision sport athletes exhibited worse trail making test difference performance, warranting ongoing cognitive assessments with longitudinal designs. However, collision sport athlete’s performance was better than general college students supporting the positive benefits of physical activity on cognitive performance.