Perceptual Processing Speed, Social Intelligence and Football Refereeing Performance: The Conditional Role of Attentional Control.

Football refereeing involves rapid decision-making in dynamic, uncertain, and socially demanding environments. This study examined an integrative cognitive-behavioral model of football refereeing performance, focusing on perceptual processing speed (PPS), attentional control (AC), and social intelligence (SI). Sixty-one male football referees (Mage = 30.04, SD = 4.06) enrolled in a national talent development program across multiple competitive seasons participated in the study. At the beginning of each season, referees completed standardized, ability-based assessments of PPS (processing speed task), AC (selective and inhibitory task), and SI (performance-based social intelligence measure). Refereeing performance was operationalized using season-standardized end-of-season officiating ratings assigned by the national refereeing authority. Mediation analyses did not support AC or SI as mechanisms transmitting the effect of PPS on performance. However, moderation analyses revealed a significant PPS × AC interaction, indicating that attentional control amplified the positive association between perceptual processing speed and refereeing performance. PPS emerged as a robust predictor of performance, particularly among referees with high attentional control. Social intelligence showed a positive bivariate association with performance but did not function as a mediator or moderator in multivariate models. These findings support an interactive and ecological view of applied intelligence in football refereeing, emphasizing functional coordination highlighting the functional coordination of cognitive resources rather than isolated cognitive abilities as key to performance under real-world competitive demands.