EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS AS PREDICTORS OF IN-GAME DECISION‑MAKING SUCCESS IN MALE AND FEMALE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL PLAYERS
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Author(s): | I. E. Konovalov, Serebrennikova N. A., |
| Number of journal: | 2(75) | Date: | June 2026 |
| Annotation: | The study focuses on executive functions as the cognitive basis of tactical thinking in male and female student basketball players, which gives the work an interdisciplinary character and integrates approaches from sports psychology and the theory of athletic training. In modern basketball, characterized by a high tempo of game episodes, intense physical contact, and frequent changes in tactical tasks, identifying the components of executive functions that act as predictors of successful in‑game decisions under time pressure and conditions of informational uncertainty becomes particularly relevant. The study involved 30 athletes (15 male and 15 female basketball players) from the “Krylatye Barsy” university sports club; executive functions were assessed using the Bourdon- Anfimov proofreading test, the digit span test (forward and backward) and the Trail Making Test (parts A and B, B-A index), while decision‑making success was evaluated using a video‑based test consisting of 20 typical game episodes. It was shown that, despite a comparable overall level of cognitive potential, the profile of executive functions in male and female players has gender‑specific features: male players demonstrate higher attention productivity and faster performance in simple visuomotor tasks, whereas female players outperform them in working memory under more complex conditions and in the accuracy of in‑game decisions, albeit with slightly longer reaction times. It was found that, for male players, the leading predictors of decision‑making success are indicators of cognitive flexibility (TMT‑B completion time and B-A index) in combination with attention productivity, whereas for female players they are parameters of the temporal strategy of information processing (the “speed-accuracy” trade‑off). The findings provide guidelines for differentiated development of executive functions in the training system of university basketball teams and outline prospects for further research involving larger samples and additional cognitive measures. | ||
| Keywords: | basketball, university sport, student teams, executive functions, attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility, tactical thinking, decision‑making, predictors of success, gender differences, cognitive resources |
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| For citation: | Serebrennikova N. A., Konovalov I. E. Executive functions as predictors of in-game decision making success in male and female university basketball players. Biznes. Obrazovanie. Pravo = Business. Education. Law. 2026;2(75):320—325. DOI: 10.25683/VOLBI.2026.75.1624. |
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