Identificação das habilidades cognitivas associadas ao esporte de orientação

Abstract

Orienteering (EO) is a time trial sport where athletes navigate through unfamiliar terrain using only a map and compass, passing through pre-established control points. In this context, EO presents physiological demands similar to endurance sports, coupled with a substantial cognitive demand for spatial navigation, thus constituting a dual-task activity (physicalcognitive). The impact of physical exercise on cognition is associated with neuroplasticity induced by neurotrophin synthesis and the redistribution of cerebral blood flow during motor activity. The simultaneous combination of physical activity with cognitive stimulation (i.e., dual-task) can develop mental skills required during the demand. To identify the key cognitive skills associated with EO performance, the study applied a battery of seven neuropsychological tests to assess episodic memory, attention, and executive functions in orienteers (n=20) and road runners (n=20), aged 18-64 of both sexes, without diagnoses of mental and/or neurological disorders, with similar average training times (9-12 years), significant training volume for road runners, and equivalent technical levels for orienteers. A comparative analysis of athletes' results was conducted using normative values from clinical neuropsychology. It was observed that EO practitioners exhibited above-average performance in all analyzed constructs compared to the general population norm (z-score ± 95% CI), with notable results in executive function tests (Five Point, Stroop Effect, and Corsi Blocks), sustained attention (Trail Making Test A), and a single-stimulus episodic memory test (Verbal Auditory Learning Test). This was not observed in road runners. Additionally, orienteers demonstrated significantly (p<0.05) superior performance in executive functions evaluation in Corsi Blocks and Five Point tests compared to road runners. We conclude that a dual-task activity provides greater benefits for executive functions than a physically less cognitively demanding activity. Thus, years of orienteering practice were associated with better performance in executive function assessments compared to road runners and normative values of a healthy population. The findings suggest that these results could guide specific training methods to enhance cognitive performance in EO towards achieving technical excellence in the sport