COMPARISON OF COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE U14 BASKETBALL PLAYERS

16TH INTERNATIONAL ARTEMIS SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CONGRESS, Bucuresti, Romanya, 28 Ağustos - 30 Eylül 2026, ss.323-324, (Özet Bildiri)

Cognitive abilities such as attention, processing speed, temporal anticipation, and inhibitory control

contribute to efficient information processing during adolescence. These functions undergo substantial

developmental changes during this period; however, potential sex-related differences in cognitive

performance among youth athletes remain unclear. This study aimed to compare cognitive performance

between male and female U14 basketball players at the beginning of a competitive season.

Thirty-five U14 basketball players (17 females and 18 males; mean age: 12.57 ± 0.50 years) participated

in the study. Cognitive performance was assessed during the pre-season period using the Change

Detection Test, Timewall Test, and Flanker Task from the PEBL 2.1 test battery. Outcomes included

change-detection accuracy and response time, temporal anticipation accuracy, Flanker accuracy, mean

reaction time, and interference effect. Female and male players were compared using independentsamples

Student’s t-tests. Due to missing or invalid measurements, the number of participants included

in individual analyses varied across cognitive outcomes. Statistical significance was set at p < .05.

No significant sex-related differences were found in any cognitive outcome. Female and male U14

players showed comparable Change Detection accuracy and response time, Timewall performance,

Flanker accuracy, mean reaction time, and interference scores. Although Timewall accuracy was

numerically higher in males, the difference was not statistically significant.

The findings indicate that male and female U14 basketball players showed comparable cognitive

performance at the beginning of the competitive season. No sex-related differences were observed in

change-detection accuracy, response time, temporal anticipation, Flanker accuracy, mean reaction time,

or inhibitory control. These results suggest that, within the same age category, sex may not be a major

determinant of baseline cognitive performance in youth basketball players. Further studies with larger

samples are needed to determine whether sex-related differences emerge at different developmental

stages or across a competitive season.