Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Objective Within the constraints of a cross-sectional design, to compare behavioral performance and prefrontal functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) activation characteristics during the Stroop interference task among open-skill athletes, closed-skill athletes, and non-athlete university students. Methods A total of 91 university students were recruited, including an open-skill group (n = 29; basketball, volleyball), a closed-skill group (n = 32; swimming, Wushu routines), and a control group (n = 30). We employed fNIRS combined with the Stroop color-word task to investigate the effects of different sport types on inhibitory control. Results Behavioral results showed that the Stroop interference effect on reaction time was significantly smaller in the open-skill group than in the control group. fNIRS results revealed that under the congruent condition, significant between-group activation differences were observed only at CH8 (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, DLPFC), with post-hoc pairwise comparisons indicating significantly higher activation in the open-skill group than in the closed-skill group. Under the incongruent condition, significant between-group activation differences were found at CH4 (orbitofrontal cortex, OFC) and CH20 (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, VLPFC); post-hoc pairwise comparisons showed that the open-skill group exhibited significantly higher activation at CH4 compared with the closed-skill group, and higher activation at CH20 compared with both the closed-skill group and the control group. Conclusions Open-skill sports were associated with a smaller Stroop reaction-time interference effect and specific prefrontal activation patterns in the DLPFC, OFC, and VLPFC. These findings suggest divergent recruitment of prefrontal neural resources during conflict processing between the two athlete populations.</p>