A critical review of research on executive functions in sport and exercise

Furley, Philip, Schütz, Lisa-Marie and Wood, Greg ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0851-7090 (2025) A critical review of research on executive functions in sport and exercise. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 18 (1). pp. 316-344. ISSN 1750-984X

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Abstract

The investigation of Executive Functions (EF) has become a trending topic of investigation in sport science. This critical review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the underlying theory and the typical methodology (and problems with the methodology) in the interdisciplinary study of EFs as it relates to the two most researched questions within the sports literature: (1) if the engagement in sports and exercise can enhance EFs; and (2) if and how EFs contribute to superior performance/expertise in sports. A critical evaluation on theoretical and methodological work on EF shows numerous problems on how to conceptualize and measure the EF construct. These problems within the basic research on EF seem to be widely overlooked in the sport literature and have contributed to ambiguous empirical evidence on the question if sport and physical exercise can be used to train EF. Similarly, the second question ‘if EF contribute to superior performance in (some) sports’ has also received inconclusive empirical support. We conclude by pointing out avenues for future theoretical and empirical work regarding the important topic of EF in sport and exercise.