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Cognitive and personality factors in the regular practice of martial arts

Article  in  The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness · May 2017

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.17.07245-0

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Rosa Angela Fabio Giulia Emma Towey

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© 2017 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2018 ????;58(??):000-000
Online version at http://www.minervamedica.it DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.17.07245-0

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Cognitive and personality factors in the

regular practice of martial arts

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Rosa A. FABIO, Giulia E. TOWEY *

Department of Cognitive Sciences, Psychology, Education and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

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*Corresponding author: Giulia E. Towey, Department of Cognitive Sciences, Psychology, Education and Cultural Studies, University of Messina, via Con-

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cezione 6-8, 98122 Messina, Italy. E-mail: giuliatowey@yahoo.it

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A B S T RAC T

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BACKGROUNDː The effects of regular practice of martial arts is considered controversial and studies in this field limited their attention to
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singular psychological benefits. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the regular practice of martial arts and cognitive and
personality factors, such as: attention, creativity and school performance, together with, self-esteem, self-efficacy and aggression.

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METHODSː The design consists in a factorial design with two independent variables (groups and age levels) and seven dependent variables (at-
tention, creativity, intelligence, school performance, self-esteem, self-efficacy and aggression). Seventy-six people practicing martial arts were
compared with a control group (70 participants) not involved in any martial arts training. Martial artists were divided into groups of three levels
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of experience: beginners, intermediate and experts. Each completed a battery of tests that measured all the cognitive and personality factors.
RESULTSː Martial artists presented a better performance in the attentional and creativity tests. All the personality factors analyzed presented
a significant difference between the two groups, resulting in higher levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy, and a decrease of aggressiveness.
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CONCLUSIONSː Regular practice of martial arts can influence many functional aspects, leading to positive effects on both personality and cog-
nitive factors, with implications in psychological well-being, and in the educational field. The results were discussed with reference to theories
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claiming that regular activity has a differential positive effect on some aspects of cognition.
(Cite this article as: Fabio RF, Towey GE. Cognitive and personality factors in the regular practice of martial arts. J Sports Med Phys Fitness
2018;58:______. DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.17.07245-0)
Key words: Attention - Aggression - Cognition - Martial arts - Motor activity.
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artial arts can be described as various codified benefits in terms of psychological changes. The first
combat systems that originated in the Far East, studies that analyze the social-psychological effects
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commonly considered by the Asian culture as a way of
living, promoting discipline and greater values. Martial
arts involvement is considered controversial, especially
if we consider the literature about the psychological
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of martial arts go back to the late ‘60s and early ‘70s;
these focused on personality factors that influenced the
type of martial arts chosen and how the practice could
change the artists over a period of time. Studies found

benefits of this practice; some claim that long term prac-
tice leads to positive benefits in terms of well-being,
self-confidence, self-esteem, and discipline,1-4 while
others focus on the possibility of enhancing aggressive-
ness and antisocial behavior.5-7
For many years the influence of martial arts has not
been analyzed in a scientific way in the western world,
mainly because of the difficulty in extracting the real
an improvement in a number of personality traits, nev-
ertheless, authors noted greater variety of hostile modes
of expression in both beginners and advanced practi-
tioners.8 It is probable that this was the turning point in
which the attention shifted to the influence of martial
arts on aggressiveness that characterized most of the
research of recent years. In general, however, studies
concluded that longer training leads to a decrease in the

Vol. 58 - No. ?? The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 1

FABIO COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY FACTORS IN MARTIAL ARTS
levels of aggressiveness independent of gender.9-11 Re-
cently attention has shifted to the therapeutic effects of
martial arts practice, such as: a decrease in depression
and anxiety, an increase in well-being, general stress
management, and exercise self-efficacy.2
Learning a sport such as martial arts, which presents
a large number of techniques gathered in a program
with increasing difficulty, implicates both cognitive and
emotional dimensions. Complex motor abilities are in-
fluenced by emotional factors such as self-esteem and
self-efficacy, in so much as they can influence the way
we see ourselves and our capacities.12 Nevertheless, as
it has been pointed out, many studies that evaluated per-
sonality changes in martial artists, focused on aggres-
sion, considering to a lesser extent other psychological
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changes of this practice. Athletic involvement is associ-
ated with an increase of self-esteem and an improve-
ment of self-image;13 for example, in one of the early
studies, Richman et al.3 using the Rosenberg Self-Es-
teem Scale, found that Karateka showed an increase in
self-esteem directly proportional to the belt rank.
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Perceived self-efficacy refers to what an individual
believes he can accomplish using his or her skills under
certain circumstances.14 This belief is the key factor of
human agency. People with high self-efficacy are those
who are more likely to engage a task, even if perceived
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as being difficult, instead of avoiding it. Today most sci-
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entists believe that exercise can increase self-efficacy
and self-concept; a recent study that had the aim of in-
vestigating the influence of these parameters in a group
of martial artists, found that both self-concept and self-
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efficacy were higher in this group as opposed to the non
martial artists.15
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The importance of evaluating both emotional and
cognitive factors, especially in the developmental age,
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was highlight by some longitudinal studies. Lakes et
al.16 noted that martial artists who practice tae know
do (a Korean martial art), in a school context, after 3
moths, showed greater improvement in the three do-
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mains analyzed (cognitive, affective, and physical):
cognitive self-regulation, affective self-regulation, pro-
social behavior, classroom conduct, and performance in
mental math tests. Moreover, Diamond et al.,17 in their
review regarding the development of executive func-
tions, observed that children who received traditional
Tae-Kwon-Do training improved their physical condi-
tion, and also gained in self-control, inhibitory control,
2 The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness ???? 2018
perseverance and math abilities. The European Physical
Education Association (EUPEA), indicated that in the
majority of countries, martial arts are introduced during
physical education classes in secondary schools because
it is believed that it provides educational opportunities
for pupils.18 Consistent with this assumption, Åberg et
al.,19 demonstrated that changes in physical achieve-
ment between the ages of 15 and 18, predicted cognitive
performance later. Moreover, this study found a positive
association between cardiovascular fitness and intelli-
gence and predicted educational achievements later in
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life.19
Traditional martial arts are distinguished by exercises
consisting in sequences of movements and patterns de-
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scribing battle against an unspecified number of imagi-
nary opponents,20 named differently by various martial
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arts (Kata or Forms). Moreover they are characterized
by combat exercises with two or more opponents, in
which you have to focus attention on many stimuli (to
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avoid attacks and find the right time to respond), these
are called “Kumitè” o simple combat. This suggests
that they include cognitive as well as physical compo-
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nents.20 It is known that there is a parallelism between
cognitive processes of varying degrees of complexity;
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many influence each other, allowing athletes to operate
in complex situations. Cognitive factors are essential in
order to analyze, select and respond to environmental
stimuli (attention), any interruption in one of these pro-
cesses can have negative effects on sport performance.
For example the breadth of attention is essential in
sport, and it is directly associated with the creative per-
formance: The more stimulus the athlete is able to pay
attention to, the more are the connections that he can
create between them.21,22 Memmert,22 in a longitudinal
study that analyzed this relation, showed that the group
focused on training to gain a broader breadth of atten-
tion, significantly improved their creative performance.
Nevertheless, it seems that the exposure to aerobic ex-
ercise may have the same effect; Tuckman et al.23 dem-
onstrated, in a randomized controlled trial, that taking
part in a physical education program for several weeks,
improves creativity in school children.
As it has been pointed out, athletes in order to gener-
ate original solutions, have to be able to perceive differ-
ent stimuli in complex environments and consider the
information to generate an action plan.24 Martial arts
athletes are capable of using research patterns and fo-
COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY FACTORS IN MARTIAL ARTS FABIO
cusing attention on more areas, and this ability is higher
for experts as opposed to intermediate or low levels of
experience; this finding has been tested on a group of
martial artists in a common situation which they attend
frequently.25 Eighteen participants (six for each level)
were video-recorded while they were asked to carry out
a task in which they had to solve a combat situation, and
the image was projected on to a screen. The participants
had to respond to attacks using a joystick. The data was
analyzed, and they discovered that experts adopted a
more efficient search pattern and they also focused on
different display areas than the novice.25
It is known that physical activity has a positive ef-
fect on mind and body, and it seems that regular ac-
tivity is able to alter the structure and function of the
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brain.26 Physical exercise is associated with the increase
in the activity of specific cerebral areas, such as the pre-
frontal cortex which is responsible for the regulation of
complex cognitive processes, such as executive func-
tions and attention. A recent study, that had the aim of
comparing the brain’s electrical activity in martial arts
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athletes, found that there were significant differences
between experts and novices in the event-related brain
potentials (ERPs) that underlie sustained attention. The
results reflected better-controlled attention in skilled
athletes, associated with the activation of the structural
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areas responsible (frontal and limbic lobes).27A meta-
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analysis by Colcombe and Kramer28 highlighted that
physical activity provides general benefits across multi-
ple aspects of cognition; nevertheless, it is possible that
different types of sports may influence different abili-
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ties, as has been proposed in the “selective improvement
hypothesis” by Kramer et al.29 Not many studies have
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analyzed, on a neuropsychological level, the effects of
martial arts on cognition; it is still unclear which fac-
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tors influence these effects (e.g. type of sport, duration,
intensity, sport preference), and it is still an open issue
whether the complexity of the motor activity, such as
martial arts, could have major effects on a broader level,
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in comparison to relatively simple sport activities.30
In view of the above literature that shows the possi-
bility that martial arts practice can have positive effects
on the artists, the objective of this research is to inves-
tigate if there are differences between people practic-
ing martial arts and people who are not involved in any
martial arts training. In particular it was hypothesized
that: 1) martial arts practitioners present higher perfor-
Vol. 58 - No. ?? The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 3
mances for the cognitive variables analyzed (attention,
creativity, and school profit); 2) that there are differ-
ences between the various levels of experience, expect-
ing higher performances for the experts. Furthermore,
the same trend is expected for the personality factors, in
particular, higher levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy,
and lower levels of aggression for martial artists, the
influence of experience on the same parameters.
Materials and methods
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Participants
The Human Ethics Committee of the Department of
Cognitive Sciences, Psychology, Education and Cultural
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Studies of the University of Messina approved the study
protocol on the 21st November 2015 (n° 27502113); all
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participants were informed that the study was an investi-
gation of the effect of martial arts practice, therefore we
informed the parents of under age children who gave a
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written consent. Participants (N.=146; ageyears M =14.88,
SD =6.21) were male (N.=107;) and female (N.=39),
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graduated from university (N.=7) or from high school
(N.=20), and those remaining were students. The sub-
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jects were divided into two main groups: experimental
group (people who practice martial arts; N.=76; ageyears
M =15.27, SD =6.62) and control group (not practicing
any martial art; N.=70; ageyears M =14.5, SD =6.07). Par-
ticipants of the experimental group practiced three dif-
ferent types of martial arts (karate, kung fu and ju jitsu),
mainly considered traditional styles. The traditional ap-
proach is less focused on competitive aspects and more
centered on discipline and conflict avoidance. Moreover
within the experimental group, people were divided into
three levels: beginners, intermediate and experts. Begin-
ners, had not more that two years practice; intermediate
had at least three to six years practice and experts were
those who had more than seven years practice.
The control group was composed of subjects who
were not involved in martial arts, but the under age
children, were all participants in different school team
sports (basketball, volley ball and gymnastics), while
the adults were in independent teams, practicing: soc-
cer, tennis and swimming. The two groups (experimen-
tal vs. control) were matched for age, gender and IQ
(Table I).
The participants completed a battery of tests togeth-
er with a questionnaire created ad hoc asking for their
FABIO COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY FACTORS IN MARTIAL ARTS
Table I.—Characteristics of the two groups participating in the
experiment.
Group N., boys/girls Age, mean (SD) IQ, mean (SD)
Experimental 59/17 15.27 (6.62) 103.2 (8.6)
Control 49/22 14.5 (6.07) 102.6 (7.5)
training experience in terms of years of practice and belt
rank. The second of these variables was not used in the
analysis because the different martial arts styles did not
allow a correspondence between the colors of the belts.
Having a large age range, the participants were di-
vided into three groups:
—— group 1: 7≤years≤11;
—— group 2: 12≤years≤16;
—— group 3: ≥17 years.
O of time required to complete the task, expressed in sec-
Procedure
The sample of the experimental group, was selected
from two sport centers of the Thieu Lam School located
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in the province of Messina (Sicily), who were all affili-
ated to the F.I.W.U.K-CONI federation. The rest were
chosen randomly in different Italian areas during sev-
eral worldwide competitions, that were affiliated to the
same federation and to the W.T.K.A. Control group par-
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ticipants were selected from different school levels, and
they were matched for age, gender and IQ.
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To collect the data and information we used a series
of questionnaires that were administrated and self-com-
pleted after we obtained the authorization of the parents
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of under age children. After explaining the procedure,
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we checked if there were any doubts, and each subject
independently completed the self-reports. The Raven’s
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matrices, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and
the Trail Making Test were administrated individually
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with the experimenter. All the questionnaires were com-
pleted in isolated areas, and extra help was granted to
subjects under the age of 12.
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Materials
A questionnaire was created to obtain the neces-
sary information that helped to divide the subjects into
the different group levels and chronological ages. The
school achievement of the last grade attended, was ob-
tained for all the participants; moreover martial artists
had to specify the years of practice and the belt level.
4 The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness ???? 2018
The Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) 31
and the Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM)32 were
used to evaluate the intelligence, necessary to match the
two groups (experimental and control group).
We used the Trail Making Test (TMT)33 that is primar-
ily a test that measures visual attention and motor speed.
The TMT provides information on visual search, scan-
ning, speed of processing, mental flexibility, and execu-
tive functions. The test has two parts: Part A involves a
series of numbers and the participant is required to draw
lines connecting the numbers in sequential order (i.e.
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1-2-3, etc.). Part B involves a series of numbers and let-
ters and the participant is required to alternately connect
letters and numbers in sequential order as rapidly as
A
possible. The score on each part represents the amount
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onds. The TMT is sensitive to cognitive flexibility, in
fact the scores in version B, or the difference in scores
between versions B and A, are often of greater interest
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because they have been postulated to reflect aspects of
executive functioning, such as planning and switching.
Many studies have tried to clarify the processes under-
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lying the TMT scores and have used the test to obtain
normative data on different populations (healthy adults
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vs. clinical population, different age groups, and vari-
ous races). For example Tombaugh 34 supplied norma-
tive data using a large sample size and verified kurtosis
and Skewness (0.04 and 0.45) indexes.
For the evaluation of creativity we used the Tor-
rance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT)35 and Alterna-
tive Uses Task (AUT).36 The first of these, designed to
evaluate creative thinking, includes a figural and ver-
bal subtest. The TTCT-figural (that was used in this re-
search) has two parallel forms, A and B, and consists
of three activities that have to be completed within 10
minutes. Both forms are oriented to assess three princi-
pal cognitive processes of creativity: fluency, flexibility
and originality. The first of these evaluates the number
of relevant ideas; the flexibility refers to the variety of
categories of relevant responses, while the originality
subscale refers to the number of statistically infrequent
ideas. With reference to the validity of the TTCT, the
interrater reliabilities obtained using Cronbach’s alpha
range from 0.78 to 0.88, while the test-retest reliability
coefficients range from 0.50 to 0.93.37 Another test used
for the evaluation of divergent thinking was the AUT, in
which participants are asked to list, for every common
COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY FACTORS IN MARTIAL ARTS FABIO
object as many alternative uses as possible, within 10
minutes. As the TTCT, this test also provides three pa-
rameters: fluency, originality and flexibility. The AUT is
part of a battery of tests that presents a good reliability;
for example, the AUT presents Spearman-Brown Spit-
Half coefficients that range between 0.48 and 0.83 for
originality and 0.7 and 0.84 for fluency.
The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSSE)38 was cho-
sen to evaluate the self-esteem parameter. It is a 10-item
self-report designed to measure both positive and nega-
tive feelings about self, with the idea that self-esteem can
be considered a unidimensional construct. All items are
answered using a 4-point Likert format, ranging from
strongly agree to strongly disagree. The internal consis-
tency (Cronbach‘s Alpha) for the RSSE ranges from 0.77
to 0.88 and test-retest reliability ranges from 0.82 to 0.85.
O dependent variables: group n°1 =1-2 years of practice;
The General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE)39 is a scale
created to assess a general sense of perceived self-ef-
ficacy. It is a simple self-report, composed of 10 items
that have the aim of predicting the coping strategies;
each item refers to successful coping strategies and im-
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plies an internal-stable attribution of success; responses
are made on a 4-point scale. The GSE presents Cron-
bach’s Alpha ranging from 0.76 to 0.9.
We used the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ),31 a
self-report that is considered the gold-standard for the
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measurement of aggression. Originally composed of 66
items it was reduced to a shorter form given its com-
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plexity; Buss et al. extracted items with the higher va-
lidity, and after updating several more, created a shorter
form composed of 29 items with increased psychomet-
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ric properties. The factor analysis showed that the ques-
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tionnaire expresses a multifactorial model, in fact it
presents a four-factor structure: physical aggression,
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verbal aggression, anger and hostility. All items are an-
swered using a 5-point Likert Scale, so that you obtain
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a score for each subscale and the total score for aggres-
sion is the sum of the factor scores. The internal consis-
tency coefficients are as follows: physical aggression, α
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=0.85; verbal aggression, α =0.72; anger, α =0.83 and
hostility, α =0.77, with the internal consistency being α
=0.89. Test-retest reliability for the subscales and total
score range from α =0.72 to α =0.80.31
Statistical analysis
The data analysis was completed using the IBM SPSS
Statistics, Version 20.
Vol. 58 - No. ?? The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 5
An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed,
assigning groups and age levels as independent vari-
ables and each of the measured parameters as dependent
variables (attention, creativity, intelligence and school
performance): 2 (groups: experimental vs. control) x 3
(age levels: 7-11, 12-16, >17). The alpha level was set
to P<0.05 for all statistical tests. In case of significant
effects, the effect size of the test was reported. The ef-
fect sizes were computed and categorized according to
Cohen.32 Regarding the cognitive factors, preliminary
statistical analyses showed that age has an effect on per-
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formance, except for two subscales of the TTCT (flexi-
bility and fluidity); for this reason, analyses of covariate
were performed, assigning the variable age as covariate,
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moreover the three levels of experience were set as in-
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group n°2 =3-6 years of practice; group n°3 ≥7 years of
practice. An analysis of variance was also performed on
the parameters that are not influenced by age.
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Results
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The first part of the results concern the differences
between the two groups (experimental and control),
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while the second part refers to differences between the
levels of experience within the experimental group.
With reference to the first part, regarding the atten-
tion parameter, an analysis of variance was performed
considering each subtest of the TMT and the difference
between the second and the first subtest (TMT B-A).
Table II summarizes the means and standard deviations
of each subtest separately for the experimental group
and the control group and for each age level considered.
Regarding TMT-A the interaction groups x age levels
shows significant effect, F (1, 137) =3.22, P=0.04, d
=0.58, this means that with the increase in age people
who practice martial arts solve the TMT-A in less time
than the control group. The same result was obtained
in the second subtest (TMT-B), that is characterized by
two different types of stimuli, F (1, 137) =4.11, P<0.03,
d =0.59. Regarding the last parameter, that indicates
how quickly the subjects adjust switching to two dif-
ferent tasks, martial artists show higher scores than the
control group (Figure 1), F (1, 137) =9.14, P<0.001, d
=0.83.
Concerning creativity, two different tests were used,
the TTCT, and the AUT, each evaluating three param-
FABIO COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY FACTORS IN MARTIAL ARTS

Table II.—Means and standard deviations related to each cognitive parameter.*

Experimental (N.=76) Control (N.=70)
7-11 12-16 >17 7-11 12-16 >17
Trail Making Test
TMT-A 55.71 (17.57) 30.1 (10.82) 23.89 (5.41) 49.01 (16.28) 34.51 (9.31) 27.47 (6.6)
TMT-B 116.25 (34.35) 64.86 (19.42) 55.76 (18.62) 130.58 (55.56) 79.96 (24.09) 72.82 (37.13)
TMT B-A 62.16 (22.23) 35.08 (14.59) 31.87 (14.85) 81.58 (48.4) 45.44 (21.71) 45.35 (34.64)
Torrance Test of creative thinking
Fluidity 11.31 (7.66) 9.53 (4.85) 11.72 (8.19) 12.58 (5.9) 10.2 (5.3) 11.7 (6.22)
Flexibility 5.36 (2.96) 4.74 (2.52) 5.09 (3.96) 5.87 (2.21) 5.58 (2.14) 3.88 (1.9)
Originality 1.54 (0.76) 2.38 (1.18) 2.41 (1.28) 1.52 (0.56) 1.96 (1) 1.83 (0.94)
Alternative uses task
Fluidity 4.36 (3.1) 6.15 (4.09) 13 (15.2) 4.91 (4.74) 7.51 (5.45) 11.88 (11.11)

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Flexibility 3 (1.23) 3.81 (1.69) 6.09 (3.37) 2.58 (1.21) 4.17 (2.87) 4.52 (2.55)
Originality 2.04 (0.94) 1.98 (0.79) 2.51 (0.84) 1.7 (0.77) 1.56 (0.78) 1.56 (0.5)
School performance

A
Main language (Italian) 8.45 (1.26) 7.12 (0.94) 6.77 (1.3) 8.62 (0.71) 6.89 (0.93) 6.57 (1.13)
Math 8.27 (1.35) 7.12 (1.12) 7.5 (1.6) 8.58 (0.82) 6.82 (1.07) 5.71 (1.6)
Foreign language 7.95 (1.27)

O 7.1 (0.94) 6.87 (1.24) 8.65 (1.22) 6.94 (1.08) 5 (1.41)

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*Values are expressed as mean (SD).

and foreign language, while in math performance the

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90
variable groups shows a significant effect, F (1, 116)
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Means speed TMT-B (seconds)

80
=5.43, P<0.02, d =0.59.

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70
With reference to the personality factors, the RSES and
60
the GSES scores, were analyzed. Groups show signifi-
M
50
cant effects, respectively: F (1, 140) =12.36, P<0.001, d
40 experimental group
=0.79, F (1, 140) =11.59, P<0.001, d =0.78. This means
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30 control group
that people who practice martial arts present higher lev-
20
els of self-esteem and self-efficacy (Table III). The AQ,
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10
was applied to subjects older than 12, given that it is a
0
7-11 12-16 >17
test valid for people over that age range. Table III shows
Age Levels that, in all the subscales, groups present significant ef-
P

fects, with scores that are lower in the subjects of the ex-
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Figure 1.—Means performance scores of TMT B-A. perimental group: physical aggression F (1, 75) =5.44,
P<0.002, d =0.76; verbal aggression F (1, 76) =34.41,
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eters: fluency, flexibility and originality. Table II sum- P<0.001, d =0.80; anger F (1, 75) =13.51, P<0.001, d
marizes means and standard deviation of each test. =0.78; hostility F (1, 75) =9.59, P<0.003, d =0.74.
IN

There are differences between the two groups in TTCT-
originality, F (1, 140) =4.09, P=0.04, d =0.67, and in
AUT-originality, F (1, 138) =17.66, P<0.001, d =0.75.
It seems that the two groups differ not for the number of
M
In the second part of the results, given that a prelimi-
nary analysis showed that most of the cognitive param-
eters are influenced by age, in order to examine more in
depth the effect of the levels of experience independent

ideas or the numbers of categories used, rather for the
quality of their production (uncommon responses).
With reference to school performance, we took into
consideration academic results of: main language (Ital-
ian), maths and foreign language; the teachers evaluated
the academic achievement on a 10 point rating scale
(Table II). The analysis shows no significant difference
between the two groups in the two parameters italian
of chronological age, an analysis of covariate was per-
formed, assuming age as covariate. Table IV provides a
summary of the cognitive parameters influenced by age.
With reference to the attention parameter (TMT-
A and TMT-B), the three levels of experience show a
significant effect, respectively: F (3, 68) =3. 8, P<0.01,
d =0.72; F (3, 65) =3.2, P<0.02, d =0.7. This means
that people who practice martial arts, in time, have an

6 The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness ???? 2018

COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY FACTORS IN MARTIAL ARTS FABIO

Table III.—Means and standard deviations related to each personality parameter.*

Experimental (N.=76) Control (N.=70)
7-11 12-16 >17 7-11 12-16 >17
Physical aggression - 17.9 (6.25) 22.68 (6.88) - 22.75 (5.66) 24.82 (7.68)
Verbal aggression - 12.52 (3.17) 12.59 (3.34) - 16.25 (2.59) 16.82 (2.83)
Anger - 14.15 (5.02) 16.09 (5.04) - 18.9 (5.55) 19.76 (4.52)
Hostility - 20.65 (5.65) 22.45 (4.73) - 25.1 (5.07) 25.41 (5.75)
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale 32.18 (4.26) 32.9 (6.63) 32.22 (3.75) 28.54 (4.64) 30.72 (6.04) 28.76 (3.84)
General Self-Efficacy Scale 31.09 (3.63) 30.31 (3.23) 31.54 (4.41) 29.08 (4.08) 28.58 (3.54) 28.52 (3.62)
*Values are expressed as mean (SD).

F
Table IV.—Means and standard deviations of cognitive param- Table V.—Means and standard deviations of parameters not influ-
eters in relation to years of practice and age.* enced by age in relation to the years of practice.
Years of practice Age TMT-A TMT-B TTCT-originality Test Years of practice M SD

A
1-2 7-11 62.03 (16.57) 129.15 (35) 1.56 (0.69) Aggression Questionnaire
12-16 28 (13.81) 61.12 (16.46) 2.97 (1.63) Physical aggression 1-2 23.09 7.43
>17 26 (2.09) 68.83 (11.14)

O 1.63 (0.83) 3-6 22.44 6.85

IC
3-6 7-11 42.18 (11.25) 92.28 (15.97) 1.48 (0.96) >7 18.22 6.28
12-16 31.27 (7.24) 71.3 (21.75) 2.24 (1.07) Verbal aggression 1-2 10.61 6.13
>17 26.08 (7.12) 51.5 (14.6) 3.11 (1.23) 3-6 9.21 4.88
>7 12-16 30.04 (11.96) 62.21 (19.46) 2.14 (0.89) >7 12.43 3.88

D
>17 21.74 (5.38) 53.3 (22.93) 2.53 (1.37) Anger 1-2 12.53 6.85
O
*Values are expressed as mean (SD). 3-6 11.35 9.62
>7 13.69 5.96

increase in RTs of visual attention independent of age

Hostility

E 1-2
3-6
22.45
23.22
6.31
3.52
M
>7 20.5 5.15
(Table IV). Regarding the creativity, the analysis of co- Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale 1-2 32.55 5.52
variate shows that both TTCT Originality subscale and 3-6 32.56 5.64
R

TTCT Flexibility subscale increases with the level of >7 31.75 4.53
General Self-Efficacy Scale 1-2 31 3.75
VA

experience, respectively: F (3, 68) =2.74, P<0.005, d 3-6 30.08 3.93

=0.74, F (3, 72) =2.89, P<0.05, d =0.64. >7 31.54 3.45
For the rest of the variables that are not influenced Torrance Test of creative thinking
by age (Table V), the analysis of variance shows that Flexibility 1-2 4.41 2.63
P

3-6 4.5 3.01

the AQ-physical aggression is also positively influenced
R

>7 6.25 3.44

by the level of experience, F (2, 39) =2.55, P=0.05, d Fluidity 1-2 9.79 6.56
=0.68. This means that the level of physical aggres- 3-6 10.47 6.86
E

sion decreases with the increase of the level of expe- >7 11.95 7.04
rience; however the rest of the aggression parameter
IN

remains constant in time. The same trend is apparent

for the RSSE and the GSE; this means that not all the and cognitive and personality factors. More in depth the
parameters are influenced by the years of practice, in purpose was to evaluate if there are any differences be-
tween people practicing martial arts and people who are
M

particular those regarding the personality factors are not

influenced, in time, by martial arts, probably because
the artists at the outset of the practice already identify
with the sport itself.
Discussion
The present study is one of the first to examine the
relationship between the regular practice of martial arts
not involved in any martial arts training, with regard
to a series of factors, in particular: attention, creativity,
school performance, self-esteem, self-efficacy and ag-
gression. Moreover, comparing beginners, intermediate
and experts, it was possible to analyze if there are any
differences in relation to the athletes expertise for both
the cognitive and personality variables. Results demon-
strate significant differences between the two groups,

Vol. 58 - No. ?? The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 7

FABIO COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY FACTORS IN MARTIAL ARTS
indicating that there is a link between the regular prac-
tice of martial arts and different functional aspects.
The ability to allocate attention is essential in sport,
so it is easy to assume that athletes increase there abil-
ity to modulate attention; skilled athletes in sports that
involve rapid changes in visual information may be able
to allocate their attention more effectively than people
who do not engage in similar tasks.40 Visual attention
abilities have been frequently tested in athletes using
variations of the spatial cuing paradigm;41 in particular
in a study carried out on a group of boxers, Ripoll et
al.,25 found that experts adopted a more efficient search
pattern, and revealed fewer but longer fixations than
the novice. In the present study, using the TMT, which
evaluates different aspects of visual attention (e.g.
O
speed of processing), results demonstrate that subjects
who practice martial arts not only obtain higher perfor-
mances, but it seems that visual attention increases in
time independent of age. The findings agree with recent
research carried out on martial artists that show better
performance in visual selective attention tasks.27 Mar-
O
tial arts are in fact a dynamic sport in which you need
fast reaction times (RTs) and the ability to allocate at-
tention to different stimuli that present themselves si-
multaneously; high-level performance is characterized
by techniques that need to be explosive and therefore
R
linked to RT.42
VA
To our knowledge there are not many studies that have
specifically payed attention to the creativity in sport,
but researchers have shown a positive relation between
creative performance and breadth of attention.43 A wide
P
R
breadth of attention makes it possible to associate dif-
ferent stimuli that may initially appear irrelevant 22 cre-
E
ating more connection between them.21 Creativity was
tested in the present study through two different tests
IN
that made it possible to gather information about three
parameters: fluency, flexibility and originality. Martial
artists presented better performances in the originality
parameter which increases with years of practice, to-
M
gether with the flexibility. It seems that the two groups
differ not for the number of ideas or the numbers of cat-
egories used, rather more for the quality of their produc-
tion (uncommon responses). Even if there are no overall
differences between the two groups for the flexibility,
within the group of martial artists, this seems to increase
in time with regular practice.
Because of the frequent involvement of children in
8 The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness ???? 2018
martial arts, many studies have analyzed the implication
of such a sport in developmental age, considering the
effects on aggression,6 self-regulation 16 and the rela-
tionship with academic achievement.17, 26 These authors
found, among other benefits, positive effects of martial
arts in school-based programs, since training produces
an improvement not only of physical condition but of
various aspects of the individual’s development.16 Con-
sistent with previous researchers, who claim a positive
effect on school achievement,17 the results in the present
study showed that people attending regular martial arts
F
training presented higher levels of math performance.
Concerning the personality factors, it was pointed out
that the interest has been mainly directed towards the ef-
A
fects of long term practice on aggressiveness.5, 7, 9, 10 The
findings in the present study support those that claim that
IC
martial arts practice can be considered a resocialization
method for reducing aggression.44 The results obtained
demonstrate a decrease in different forms of aggression:
D
physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hos-
tility. Martial arts involvement has been considered, on
the other hand, an example of how competitive sports
E
can lead in time to an increase of aggressiveness and
antisocial behavior;5 according to the “social learning
M
theory”, the authors often claim that aggressiveness can
be learned within the environment that suggests this
behavior. The findings confirmed how the exposition
and the understanding in time of the principals that are
behind these disciplines, can result in a decrease of ag-
gressiveness. In the present research martial artists not
only present lower levels of aggression as opposed to
the control group, but also it seems that physical ag-
gression is positively influenced by the level of expe-
rience: With the advancement through the belt ranks,
martial artists learn to control their aggressiveness. The
same result was found by Skelton, et al.11 who investi-
gated the relationship between aggressive behavior and
the advancement through the belt ranks among children
practicing tae know do; the trend analysis resulted in a
significant reduction of aggression. The authors assume
that martial arts is a way to acquire emotional and be-
havioral self-control.
Consistent with the idea that long term practice leads
to positive psychological benefits, the present study
analyzed the effect of this practice on two emotional
factors, such as self-esteem and self-efficacy, that can
influence performance as well as the way we see our-
COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY FACTORS IN MARTIAL ARTS FABIO
selves and our abilities. Using two self-reports, differ-
ences emerged between the two groups; people who
practice martial arts reach higher levels of self-esteem
and self-efficacy, but there are no evident differences
between beginners, intermediate and experts. The prob-
able explanation, is that, the artists, already at the ini-
tial phase of the practice, identifies with the sport itself.
Self-esteem and self-efficacy can be conceptualized as
multidimensional constructs with several levels, so that
if one sub-domain is more important than others, this
can influence the global perception of one-self. Indeed
the exposure to a positive environment and the percep-
tion of is importance may influence martial artists’ self-
worth.
It is clear that most of the studies in this field have
O
concentrated their attention on particular aspects of
martial art practice analyzing singular psychological
benefits. According to the idea that physical activity
has cognitive, affective, social, and behavioral ben-
efits, the strength of this study was in fact to evaluate
various domains. Moreover the novelty of this research
O
was to examine cognitive and personality factors know-
ing that complex motor abilities are influenced, in dif-
ferent contexts, by affective-cognitive modulation. It
is known that the individual’s belief in their abilities
(self-efficacy) and the overall opinion we have of our-
R
selves (self-esteem) influence behavioral changes and
VA
the achievement motivation. Studies have demonstrated
that self-esteem is correlated to creative performance
and may influence each other.45 Moreover, the decrease
of aggressive behavior can be linked to the increase in
P
R
cognitive abilities. These results are explained in light
of the research that has discovered relationships be-
E
tween specific cognitive abilities and the capacity to
inhibit behavior, considering that reactivity is interpret-
IN
ed as impulsive hostile reactions committed with little
forethought.46 For example, Franko-Watkins et al.47
found that increased working memory load appeared
to decrease random choice rather than elicit impulsive
M
behavior. The findings in the present study, demonstrate
that the involvement in martial arts practice is associat-
ed with many psychological benefits; the characteristics
of the sport environment and the complexity of the mo-
tor activity may allow an interrelation between different
affective-cognitive aspects (e.g. relationship between
creativity/self-esteem, and creativity/attention).
The benefits of these sports can be interpreted ac-
Vol. 58 - No. ?? The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 9
cording to theories claiming that regular activity has
a positive effect on some aspects of brain functions
and cognition. There is an increasing amount of stud-
ies which examine the relationship between regular
physical activity, brain development and functioning in
childhood and adulthood.48,49 In particular, recent neu-
ropsychological research, that has specifically analyzed
the effects of martial arts practice on different cognitive
abilities (e.g. attention), referred differences in the neu-
ral mechanisms during controlled attention, which may
be directly influenced by sport expertise.27 Future re-
F
search should try to identify the mechanisms that stand
behind the improvement of cognitive abilities in order
to predict sports that are able in time to stimulate such
A
improvements.
IC
Limitations of the study
Although the results are consistent with our hypoth-
D
esis, there are a few limitations and perspectives on
future research that should be considered. Firstly, the
study is a cross-sectional design, and therefore does not
E
rule out changes due to selection bias, and more impor-
tantly does not warrant causal attributions. This limita-
M
tion has been partially addressed by the large sample
size, however only longitudinal research may reveal any
information about the direction of the relationships be-
tween long-term martial art practice and psychological
benefits. Secondly, it is possibile that factors that have
not been taken into account could explain the differ-
ences between the two groups; however, the probability
of this happening was partially reduced by matching the
participants for different important variables. A further
limitation was the subjective nature of some of the data
collected, which relied on self-report questionnaires.
Further studies are needed to address these limitations,
for example longitudinal design studies that include the
evaluation of neuropsychological parameters. More-
over, new studies should further investigate the rela-
tionship between personality and cognitive factors, em-
bracing a theoretical view, in order to understand how
different types of sports can lead to different outcomes.
Conclusions
While only longitudinal studies that examine the
changes over time may fully resolve the uncertainties
FABIO COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY FACTORS IN MARTIAL ARTS
and the limitations of cross-sectional designs, extensive
data provides evidence that martial arts can have an ef-
fect on both personality and cognitive factors. Our find-
ings support the idea that martial arts, because of the
peculiarity of its training, may improve many functional
aspects, with implications which refer not only to psy-
chological well-being, but also to the educational field
and the subsequent improvement in cognition.
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Conflicts of interest.—The authors certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript.
Article first published online: May 5, 2017. - Manuscript accepted: April 11, 2017. - Manuscript revised: March 2, 2017. - Manuscript received: November
29, 2016.

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