Effects of mental fatigue on basketball-specific decision-making in basketball players of different skill levels: the mediating role of attentional control

Objective To investigate the effects of mental fatigue on sport decision-making performance in basketball players with different skill levels and to examine whether attentional control mediates this association. Methods Forty-two male basketball players were recruited, including 21 higher-skilled players and 21 lower-skilled players. Mental fatigue was induced using a Stroop task. Before and after fatigue induction, participants completed a basketball-specific video-based decision-making task and the Eriksen Flanker task. Repeated-measures analyses were conducted to examine the effects of mental fatigue and group differences, and bootstrap mediation analyses were used to test the mediating role of attentional control. Key variables were subjected to data cleaning and robustness checks. Results After mental fatigue induction, basketball-specific decision accuracy significantly decreased, F (1, 40) = 132.789, p < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.769, whereas decision reaction time significantly increased, F (1, 40) = 98.445, p < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.711. The higher-skilled group outperformed the lower-skilled group in both decision accuracy, F (1, 40) = 49.200, p < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.552, and decision reaction time, F (1, 40) = 16.845, p < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.296. In the Flanker task, the RT conflict effect significantly increased after mental fatigue induction, F (1, 40) = 146.091, p < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.785. Mediation analysis showed that attentional control change partially mediated the relationship between subjective fatigue rating change and prolonged basketball-specific decision reaction time, indirect effect = 4.966, 95% BootCI (1.621, 8.513). This mediation pattern was further supported by the residualized change-score robustness analysis, Effect = 5.494, 95% BootCI (1.607, 9.774). Conclusion Mental fatigue impairs decision-making performance in basketball players, and the magnitude of this impairment varies by skill level under mental fatigue. Attentional control partially mediated the association between subjective fatigue rating change and basketball-specific decision reaction time, particularly with respect to response-time outcomes.