Scientists have also joined the bandwagon and have shown that to be a good runner you need a good brain. This is a study carried out by Giorgia Cona and other researchers from the University of Padua, in Italy, who have had the collaboration of 30 ultra-marathon runners (races longer than 43 kilometers that sometimes include important obstacles such as slopes). or adverse weather).
In their work, all the selected runners were male and their cognitive abilities were evaluated immediately before participating in an ultramarathon of 80 kilometers and with an elevation of 5500 meters. After the race the group was divided in two according to their speed, the fastest runners and the slowest in comparison.
The cognitive evaluation consisted of a series of computer tasks that included skills such as inhibitory control or dual tasks (two simultaneous tasks) with the aim of assessing the executive functions and attention of the runners. When comparing cognitive performance between both groups of participants, it was observed that the group of faster runners excelled in three aspects that predicted performance in the marathon:
- He performed better in motor control tasks, showing more ability to inhibit responses.
- better able to ignore the irrelevant information of one of them to be able to realize the other.
- faster in a prospective memory task when, when presented with an emotional stimulus (photograph), they had to remember an instruction to carry out a certain activity.
The results of this experiment, recently published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE (2015), would show how cognitive performance can predict sports performance. In the case of ultra-marathoners, motor inhibition, selective attention, and being less sensitive to emotional stimuli seem to be key elements. According to the study authors, the above traits could be characteristics that allow us to differentiate the best runners.
This not only happens with ‘running’, it has also been observed in football or badminton, so don’t forget that to be good at sports you also have to keep your brain in shape.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
