Athletes in interactive sports have to make decisions quickly and initiate appropriate movements, which may have to be stopped due a changed game situation. Whether and how quickly already initiated movements can still be inhibited is an important criterium in elite sports. While studies indicate that elite athletes are better in response inhibition performance (RIP) compared to recreational athletes, the question of whether RIP also differentiates between elite athletes has not been answered. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between expertise level and RIP.
92 elite athletes completed a PC-based response inhibition task (“stop-signal paradigm”; Verbruggen & Logan, 2008) with hands and feet. In addition, an expertise score (Swann et al., 2015) was determined for each athlete. Multiple linear regression was used to calculate the relationship between expertise and RIP (“stop-signal-reaction-time” (SSRT)).
Multiple linear regression results show a significant relationship between expertise and SSRT (F(2,89) = 4.87, p = .01, R2 = .09) with a significant influence of the hands (b = -.24, t = -2.1, p =.03).The results show that a differentiation in terms of RIP is possible even between elite athletes. However, whether expertise affects RIP or vice versa cannot be answered at present.

Verbruggen, F., & Logan, G. D. (2008). Response inhibition in the stop-signal paradigm. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12, 11, 418–424.
Swann, C., Moran, A., & Pigott, D. (2015). Defining elite athletes: Issues in the study of expert performance in sport psychology. Psychology Sport and Exercise, 16, 1, 3-14.