競技運動最受人囑目的焦點不外乎於運動員過人的運動技能與體能展現，然而，令我們好奇的是，究竟這些優秀的運動員是如何精確地控制他們的肢體動作以展現這些運動場上的成就？為了進一步瞭解成功運動表現的機制，當今研究也開始致力於探討運動員的認知與大腦功能。儘管已有大量研究證實運動員在許多認知作業上表現的比非運動員好，然而現今的研究發現仍未一致。因此，該研究議題仍有討論的空間。在本綜評性文章中，將回顧近年有關運動員與認知及大腦功能之實徵研究，並進行剖析與討論運動員與認知神經功能之間的複雜關係。本研究針對不同實驗設計 (例如：專家表現法與成份技能法 ) 之研究進行統整與討論，並根據文獻回顧發現：運動員在具運動特殊性的作業情境下可展現出較佳的決策能力，並且使用較少的大腦資源完成任務，反映出運動員之神經效率化的現象。此外，在一般的認知作業情境下，運動員亦能展現較優越的認知表現，但不同的是他們能在單位時間內有效地動員較多的認知資源處理作業任務。然而，可惜的是，目前尚未有研究直接比較上述不同實驗設計所獲得的研究結果。因此，運動員的專家決策及基礎認知功能之關聯仍待研究進一步釐清。此外，健身運動相關因子 (例如：有氧適能與身體活動量 ) 可能也是影響運動員認知功能之潛在要素，亦即具高有氧適能的運動員，似乎較能夠展現出優越的認知表現。有鑒於運動員與認知功能之複雜關係，本文將進行綜合討論與評析，並提出未來研究的潛在議題與實務訓練之建議。

INTRODUCTION: The focus of competitive sports is nothing more than the superior athletic skills and physical performance. However, how can athletes precisely control their body to achieve their expert performance? To further address this issue, there has thus been increasing research devoting to explore the neurocognitive mechanisms that support sporting success. Despite that a great deal of evidence has shown that athletes can outperform non-athletic controls on a variety of cognitive tasks involving attention, working memory or decision-making, current findings are still inconclusive. This is probably due to the differences in task design (e.g., the expert performance approach and the component skills approach) across research and some important factors (e.g., physical fitness or physical activity) that haven’t been considered in previous investigations. Accordingly, there is a need to further discuss this issue. METHODS: In this narrative review, we scrutinize the recent empirical research regarding athletes and their superior cognitive and brain functions. We firstly summarize research findings at both behavioral and neural levels and integrate the results from different experimental designs. Second, we discuss the potential influences of physical-exercise-related factors (e.g., aerobic fitness and physical activity level) on the association between athletes and cognitive functions. Third, based on the findings of current literatures, we propose research and practical suggestions for future research and training works. RESULTS: In general, data from most studies suggested that athletes can show superiority in both sport-specific decision-making and fundamental cognitive functioning. Besides, the neuroimaging data revealed that athletes, as compared to nonathletic controls, showed less brain activity when performing sport-specific tasks, while they were able to effectively allocate greater activity during fundamental cognitive tasks. These research findings may reflect the neural efficiency in sport-specific decision-making and higher neural effectiveness in fundamental cognitive processing, respectively. The relationship between the two experimental designs, however, has thus far remained unclear. It is therefore warranted for future investigations to examine the relation of sporting decision-making to fundamental cognitions, which may help better understand the transferring effect of athletic training to fundamental cognitions. In addition, the physical-exercise-related factors may be potential causes that affect cognitive functions in athletes because a great number of studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of physical fitness or physical activity on fundamental cognitive functions. That is, future studies should try to control the potential confounding effect of physical-exercise-related factors on the cognitive functioning in athletes. CONCLUSION: Taken together, the present article further discuss the complex relationship between athletes and cognitions, and the suggestions for future research and athletic training are proposed. In terms of research implications, we suggest that future studies should include physical-exercise-related factors, both fundamental and sport-specific task designs, and longitudinal approaches. On the other hand, for the practical implications, we propose that the athletic training, in particular for a sport requiring complex cognitive skills, could include sport-related cognitive components or employ a computerized cognitive training to directly improve a specific cognitive function that is important in a sport (e.g., temporal preparation in tennis). Importantly, given the relationship between cognitive functions and athletic performance, it is worth using cognitive tests for a talent selection in sports.