I´m studying cognitive capacities in soccer but most of the articles I´ve seen evaluate different cognitive capacities and I haven´t found a pattern on the tests used for analysing cognitive performance in soccer.
The most of the studies of the performance in sports are related to strength & conditioning (physiological) and psychological capacities. But these studies are not enough in the case of those sports where the tactical environment determines every situation in which football is a case like other sports (rugby, water polo, hockey, basketball…). When you are asking for cognitive functions in football, I start to think about tactics. And in Spain, one of the strongest referents in tactic analysis is Joan Riera. I attach you an ancient paper written in Spanish (maybe you understand) which he classifies the tactical relationships in these kind of sports. Even being old, this paper is the starting point of tactical analysis in any sport. If you search for the same author (I recommend you to search him at Dialnet Data Base), probably you’ll find other good references.
With this introduction I want to say that, as far as I know, there are few researches about cognitive functions in these sports. It means that all the approaches to research about cognitive functions are either experiences of training of cognitive functions or researches about concrete aspect on cognitive function during in a football rule, as for instance, which decisions take players act during an offside.
I’ve never read about a standardized test to be used. But it doesn’t mean that this test you’re searching for not exists. Finally, my personal opinion is that you should probably consider studying a part of cognitive function or a part of the cognitive functions involved in any given football rule or situation (2x1…).
Dear Vinicius, I write you again because half an hour later of writing you that answer I received a journal alert. In that journal there is an article entitled: Using instruments for tactical assessment in physical education and extra-curricular sports. Maybe this article can guide you to a better and specific search. Find it at: http://epe.sagepub.com/content/20/4/525?etoc
Thank you Gil! In fact the papers you sent me are very interesting. I´ve been reading many works from the tactical point of view and that´s something I also have interest on, the different ways of evaluating tactical performance in football. However, what I´m looking for really are works about general cognitive functions that could be related to performance in football, such as the works of Vestberg et al "Executive Functions Predict the Success of Top Soccer Players" (2012) and Verburgh "Executive Functioning in Highly Talented Soccer Players" (2014). I have found a few others but there is a diversity on the tests used and cognitive capacities evaluated, and that´s what I´m trying to figure out, which tests could be used and which capacities could have more influence on performance in football. I think the interest on that subject has been growing for the past years but I agree, I don´t think there is a standardized test yet. Thank you very much for your help!