Can training background offset the disadvantage associated with relative age effect on perceptual-cognitive skills from childhood into adolescence?
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Anthony J. Blazevich: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1664-1614
Abstract
Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which relative age effect (RAE) impacts the development of perceptual-cognitive skills and how training background may potentially offset RAE from childhood into adolescence. Method: One hundred sixty-five 10- to 16-year-old male participants were divided into 8 groups based on their birth quartiles (BQ1 [January–March], BQ2 [April–June], BQ3 [July–September], and BQ4 [October–December]) and training background (moderately trained: 1–2 sessions/wk and well-trained: 4–5 sessions/wk). Their perceptual-cognitive skills were evaluated using a 3D multiple-object tracking task (ie, the NeuroTracker [NT]) with (3D) and without (2D) stereopsis. Results: In moderately trained children, NT scores progressively decreased from BQ1 to BQ4, with a significant difference between the first 3 birth quartiles and BQ4 (P < .01), independent of stereopsis. In well-trained children, however, no significant differences were detected in NT scores between quartiles, and well-trained children in BQ4 exhibited NT scores comparable to moderately trained children in the first 3 quartiles. Conclusion: RAE showed a significant disadvantage on the perceptual-cognitive scores in moderately trained children born in BQ4. However, well-trained children born in BQ4 performed similarly to other well-trained children and to moderately trained children born in the first 3 birth quartiles, meaning that training background may offset the disadvantage associated with RAE from childhood into adolescence.
Keywords
Age, birth quartile, multiple-object tracking task, stereopsis
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
5-1-2026
Volume
38
Issue
2
PubMed ID
40803362
Publication Title
Pediatric Exercise Science
Publisher
Human Kinetics
School
Centre for Human Performance / School of Medical and Health Sciences
Funders
The present study was supported by Clermont Auvergne Metropole.
Copyright
subscription content
First Page
194
Last Page
200
Comments
Zhang, X., Maso, F., Ekpe-Lordonnois, B., Poncelet, T., Ennequin, G., Blazevich, A. J., & Ratel, S. (2026). Can training background offset the disadvantage associated with relative age effect on perceptual-cognitive skills from childhood into adolescence? Pediatric Exercise Science, 38(2), 194–200. https://doi.org/10.1123/pes.2025-0004