Top footballers are cleverer than university students.

 

Premier League footballers have sharper minds than most university students, according to a new academic study.
Researchers found the top flight players and even elite amateur athletes have better developed cognitive functions than the average undergraduate because they are able to 'hyper-focus'.
The perception study by Professor Jocelyn Faubert, an expert in psychophysics, revealed a possible outcome of the increased cortical thickness that has been found in areas of trained athletes' brains.
The findings also offer researchers new avenues for exploring the treatment of people who have issues with attention, such as the elderly.
Professor Faubert, of the University of Montreal in Canada, said: 'Study participants were asked to describe a series of simulated objects moving through three dimensions.
'Although the context had nothing to do with any specific sport, we found that professional athletes were able to process the visual scenes much better than amateur athletes who were in turn better than the students.'
He said the cognitive requirements for correctly interpreting the abstract moving scenes parallel situations such as driving, crossing the street or performing sport.

 

'It would appear that athletes are able to hyper-focus their attention to enhance learning, which is key to their abilities,' he added.