SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sports Coaching: Performance and Development
Stroboscopic Training Effects on Athletic Perform ance and Cognitive Function Across Populations, Purposes, and Skill Types: A Systematic Review a nd Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trial s
Provisionally accepted
- 1Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
- 2universitiy of jinan, jinan, China
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Background: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of stroboscopic training on cognitive function and athletic performance across different populations, purposes, and skill types. Methods: A comprehensive search of PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, and Cochrane Library databases was conducted through August 2025. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in English that examined the effects of stroboscopic training on cognitive function (e.g., attention, perceptual ability, information processing speed) and athletic performance were included. Fourteen RCTs met the inclusion criteria, with 8 evaluating cognitive outcomes and 8 evaluating athletic performance. Results: Meta-analysis revealed that stroboscopic training produced a moderate positive effect on overall cognitive function (SMD = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.29 to 0.98, p < 0.01, I² = 81%) and a moderate effect on athletic performance (SMD = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.37 to 0.78, p < 0.01, I² = 64%). Total intervention duration was significantly positively correlated with effect size (cognitive: b = 0.0016, p < 0.01; athletic: b = 0.001, p < 0.01). Conclusions: These findings suggest that stroboscopic training, particularly protocols lasting 6-10 weeks with 2-3 sessions per week of 10-20 minutes each, can effectively enhance cognitive function and athletic performance, providing a promising neurocognitive training approach for sport training and clinical rehabilitation. This review followed PRISMA guidelines and was registered with PROSPERO (CRD420251070243).
Keywords: Stroboscopic training, cognitive, Athletic Performance, Meta-analysis, Systematic review
Received: 22 Sep 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Guo, Li, Zhao, Liu and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Longtao Zhao
Jianzhong Wu
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.