Cognitive profile of young well-trained athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Elite sport training does not close the cognitive test gap for most athletes with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Debbie et al. (2016) gave a full battery of cognitive tests to young adults with intellectual disability. All of them were well-trained Paralympic-level athletes. The team compared the scores to peers without ID and looked at each athlete’s personal pattern.
The goal was to see if elite sport training levels the cognitive playing field.
What they found
After removing the effect of slow psychomotor speed, the athletes with ID still scored lower on almost every sub-test. A few individuals bucked the trend, but the group picture was clear.
High fitness did not erase the cognitive gap.
How this fits with other research
Wouters et al. (2017) showed that fitness tests themselves are reliable for people with ID. Together the two papers tell us we can trust the numbers, but the numbers say fitness ≠ cognition.
Danielsson et al. (2012) found a mixed executive-function profile in children with ID—some skills age-appropriate, others weak. Debbie’s adult athletes echo that uneven pattern, suggesting the profile stays stable into adulthood.
Wilson et al. (2023) extended cognitive profiling to older adults with ID in residential care. Their data widen the age lens but point to the same conclusion: cognitive scores remain low despite life experience or training.
Why it matters
If you assess athletes with ID for Paralympic classification, do not assume sport expertise equals cognitive ability. Use the same familiarization and reliability checks Marieke proved work, and keep extra sub-tests for areas Debbie flagged as weak. Update eligibility rules so they reflect real profiles, not stereotypes.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Previous research has shown that cognitive and motor skills are related. The precise impact of cognitive impairment on sport proficiency, however, is unknown. AIMS: This study investigated group and individual differences in cognitive profiles in a large cohort of track and field athletes, basketball players, swimmers and table tennis players with (N=468) and without (N=162) intellectual disabilities (ID). METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Based on the Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory of Cognitive abilities, eight subtests were selected for inclusion in a generic cognitive test (GCT) to assess executive functions and cognitive abilities relevant to sport, i.e., fluid reasoning, visual processing, reaction and decision speed, short-term memory and processing speed. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Reliability coefficients for the subtests ranged between 0.25 and 0.88 respectively. Factor analysis revealed two clusters of subtests, i.e., a speed-based factor (simple and complex reaction time and simple and complex visual search) and a performance-based factor (Corsi Memory, Tower of London, WASI Block Design and Matrix Reasoning). After controlling for psychomotor speed, the group of ID-athletes scored significantly lower than athletes without ID on all the GCT subtests, except the complex visual search test. When cognitive profiles of individual ID- athletes were examined, some obtained higher scores than the average norm values in the reference population. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The GCT is currently administered as part of the classification process for athletes with ID who compete in the Paralympic Games. The results of this study indicate that the complex visual search and Tower of London test in the GCT should be reconsidered.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2016 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2016.03.004