IRE-UAB doctoral student and researchers present at international conference of the 2026 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships

The study concludes that working memory is the cognitive function that presents a more evident and positive association thanks to the practice of this discipline.

The team of researchers from the Sport Research Institute of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (IRE-UAB), composed of doctoral student Leroy Donoso and researchers Marc Guillem and Marta Portero, participated in the International Scientific-Professional Conference Smarter Gymnastics. This benchmark academic meeting was held in Zagreb (Croatia) between August 21 and 23, 2026, as part of the institutional activities framed within the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

During the conference, the UAB representatives shared the findings of their systematic review, focused on analyzing the link between the practice of this discipline and the cognitive development of children. The evidence presented by the university team indicates that sports directly favor children's executive functions, establishing a close relationship with sports and cognitive performance, as well as with the long-term mental health care of boys and girls.

Among the different parameters evaluated, the work demonstrates that working memory reflects the most consistent evidence of improvement and association with gymnastic performance at early ages. These empirical data open new academic and sports perspectives, given that the expansion of these additional investigations could be highly beneficial for the design of training strategies and for the definition of much safer early specialization approaches.