Perceptual-cognitive training in basketball: effects on cognitive-motor performance, decision-making, and sport-specific transfer across youth players.

OBJECTIVES

To systematically identify, critically appraise, and synthesize basketball-specific perceptual-cognitive training interventions in pediatrics and youth players and examine their effects on decision-making, attentional control, cognitive-motor performance, and transfer to sport-specific or on-court performance. The review specifically focused on youth-dominant basketball samples to characterize the effects of these interventions during a developmental period relevant to adolescent sport participation.

METHODS

Following PRISMA 2020, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection were searched. Randomized and non-randomized intervention studies involving pediatrics and youth basketball players were eligible. Two authors independently screened records, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias. Findings were synthesized narratively.

RESULTS

Fourteen eligible reports representing 11 unique participant cohorts were included from 973 records. Interventions primarily targeted attentional/gaze control, cue utilization/anticipation, decision-making/response selection, or executive-control/cognitive-motor integration. The most consistent favorable effects were observed for cognitive-motor interventions, with moderate-to-large interaction effects reported for several dribbling, sprint, change-of-direction, and selected response-control outcomes. Attentional/gaze-control evidence was limited to one small non-randomized cohort, findings for cue-utilization and anticipation training were mixed, and decision-making/response-selection evidence remained limited to two heterogeneous independent cohorts. Evidence was concentrated on trained-task and near-transfer outcomes; retention, representative game-based transfer, and competitive-match transfer remained uncommon and did not show consistent intervention-specific benefits.

CONCLUSIONS

Basketball perceptual-cognitive training may improve proximal cognitive-motor and sport-performance outcomes in youth and pediatric players, particularly when executive-control demands are integrated with basketball-relevant motor tasks. However, the current evidence does not establish generalized improvements in basketball decision-making, sustained learning, or transfer to competitive performance. It also does not support conclusions regarding age- or maturation-specific responsiveness. Larger prospectively registered trials with independent samples, longer retention periods, and representative game- and match-based outcomes are needed.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: https://osf.io, Open Science Framework, unique identifier: 4zwvt.