Over the past 20 years, there has been an increasing interest in researching cognitive abilities and their contribution to elite sports performance. Despite table tennis being the fastest ball sport and one of the most widely played sports in the world, there has been limited research on the cognitive abilities of table tennis players. Table tennis demands coordinated movements, rapid reactions, accurate anticipation of opponent's shots, and a high level of attention. In the research, I aimed to explore the role of cognitive abilities such as attention, reaction time, anticipation, cognitive flexibility, and eye-hand coordination in table tennis, and to identify potential differences among elite table tennis players, active table tennis players, and individuals who are not involved in similar sports. The final sample consisted of three groups of 27 participants (20 males and 7 females) aged between 16 and 38 years. Cognitive abilities were assessed using the d2 attention test, the Time Wall prediction task and the Trail Making Test in the PEBL program, the Deary-Liewald reaction time task in the PsyToolkit program, and a specifically designed task measuring eye-hand coordination. Results revealed a complex pattern when comparing the three groups. Elite table tennis players excelled particularly in fast simple reaction time and eye-hand coordination, which could be one of the key abilities for achieving top performance. Surprisingly, active table tennis players achieved the best results in the choice reaction time and cognitive flexibility. The results of the study suggest superior cognitive abilities among table tennis players, yet further longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to provide more insights into the reasons and the role of table tennis in improving these abilities.
|
