In sports, milliseconds matter. Whether cutting direction on the field or halting mid-sprint, an athlete's ability to stop a movement quickly, also known as inhibitory control, can be the difference between a game-winning play or a season-ending injury. A new Journal of Motor Behavior study from Daghan Piskin and colleagues is rethinking how we assess this hidden but crucial skill.
🚦 What's the Study About?
Researchers set out to create a new type of stop signal task (SST)—one that's not only more challenging but specifically targets lower-body movements, which are key in most sports. Traditional SSTs are simple and hand-based. Think: press a button or tap a screen. But this does not necessarily translate to real sports activity or movement.
So the team asked: Can we build a more sport-relevant cognitive test?
🛠️ Enter the FITLIGHT®
To bring their vision to life, the researchers used the FITLIGHT® system, a wireless, reaction-based training system made of motion and touch-sensitive LED lights. Athletes had to step toward the lights to respond, and occasionally, a stop signal would flash, meaning they had to cancel the movement mid-action.
This setup mimicked real athletic demands, like starting a sprint or dodging an opponent and suddenly having to stop, change, or reverse movement, which is especially important for injury prevention.
đź“Š What Did They Test?
Sixteen healthy participants completed the new lower-limb SST across two sessions. The study measured:
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Response Time: How fast they reacted to the lights
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Stop Signal Reaction Time (SSRT): How quickly they could inhibit their movement when prompted
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Accuracy: How often they got it right
đź’ˇ Key Findings
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Timing Matters: The later the stop signal appeared, the harder it was to inhibit movement.
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Reliability Was Strong: Measures like SSRT and accuracy were consistent across sessions, meaning the test is repeatable and trustworthy.
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Delay x Session Interaction: Participants' accuracy varied depending on the timing of the stop signal and when they did the test.
âš˝ Why It Matters for Sports
The study takes cognitive performance testing from the lab and into the gym. By using lower-body tasks and reaction-based tools like Fitlight, it bridges the gap between neuroscience and athletic training.
For coaches, trainers, and clinicians, this means:
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A more realistic tool for testing reaction and control
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Potential to identify injury risk before it happens
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A way to track progress in return-to-play and performance programs
đź“Ł The Takeaway
Cognitive testing is no longer just for labs and laptops. With tools like FITLIGHT® and smarter task design, we're entering a new era of sports science—one where we can train, test, and protect athletes' bodies by first understanding how their brains control movement.
Read the study here: Development of an Effector-Specific Stop Signal Task with Higher Complexity: A Proof-of-Concept Study.
See here how to program your own inhibition response program.
