The relationship between esports and cognitive performance has recently gained increasing interest in the scientific community. However, our knowledge of the effects of acute sprint exercise (SE) on game performance and cognitive performance of esports players (as compared to age-matched controls) is scant. To address this gap, this study using a between-subjects design with pretest-posttest comparisons recruited amateur esports players aged between 18 and 35 years, and healthy age-matched controls who did not play esports games. The participants performed the Go/No-go test, Tracking Test, and the First Person Shooter (FPS) game Valorant immediately before and 5 and 30 min after SE. In addition to the behavioral performance, changes in the cortical hemodynamics of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) were recorded before and after the acute physical exercise while playing Valorant using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The results show that amateur esports players have superior performance in both game performance (p < .001) and specific measures of cognitive performance (i.e., Tracking Test, p < .05), regardless of the sessions. After the acute physical exercise, the gaming performance in both groups improved, and amateur esports players showed a higher accuracy in the Go/No-go task 30 min after SE. Regarding PFC cortical hemodynamics, no significant difference was noticed in the oxygenation values of both groups between pre and post tests, and between-group differences (p > .05). In conclusion, our study provides evidence that (i) amateur esports players have superior cognitive performance in specific domains and (ii) an acute bout of physical exercise can increase the gaming performance of both amateur esports players and healthy age-matched controls.

电子竞技和认知表现之间的关系最近引起了科学界越来越多的兴趣。然而，我们对急性冲刺运动（SE）对电子竞技运动员的游戏表现和认知表现（与年龄匹配的对照组相比）的影响知之甚少。为了解决这一差距，本研究采用受试者间设计和前测与后测比较，招募了年龄在 18 至 35 岁之间的业余电子竞技运动员，以及不玩电子竞技游戏的健康年龄匹配对照。参与者在 SE 之前和之后 5 分钟和 30 分钟进行了 Go/No-go 测试、跟踪测试以及第一人称射击 (FPS) 游戏《Valorant》。除了行为表现之外，还使用功能性近红外光谱记录了玩《Valorant》时进行剧烈体育锻炼之前和之后前额皮质 (PFC) 的皮质血流动力学变化。结果表明，业余电子竞技运动员在游戏表现 ( p  < .001) 和认知表现的具体测量（即跟踪测试，p  < .05）方面均具有优异的表现，无论进行何种比赛。经过剧烈的体育锻炼后，两组的游戏表现都有所提高，业余电竞选手在 SE 后 30 分钟的 Go/No-go 任务中表现出更高的准确性。关于 PFC 皮质血流动力学，两组测试前后的氧合值以及组间差异均无显着差异 ( p  > .05)。总之，我们的研究提供的证据表明（i）业余电子竞技运动员在特定领域具有卓越的认知表现，以及（ii）剧烈的体育锻炼可以提高业余电子竞技运动员和健康年龄匹配对照的游戏表现。