Physiological and cognitive demands of orienteering: a systematic review

Purpose This review aimed to investigate the predominant physiological and cognitive demands underpinning performance in orienteering. Methods A search was performed on the following databases: PubMed, Science Direct, LILACS, Scielo, SCOPUS, SPORTDiscus and the Scientific Journal of Orienteering between October 2018 and January 2020. The following keywords were used: anaerobic threshold, athletic performance, cognition, cognitive, decision-making, endurance, exercise, orienteering, orienteer, sport, visual attention, and visual search. Studies that investigated the physiological and/or cognitive demands in orienteering race or simulated competition, in elite or non-elite athletes, published in English or Portuguese were eligible. Studies that did not evaluate any of the variables of interest, case studies, reviews and books were excluded. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Results 469 studies were identified by the search, in which 11 met the eligibility criteria. In general, studies presented moderate to high quality. The main findings were: the aerobic component is the main physiological demand required for orienteering performance, interchange with moments of anaerobic demanding. To cognitive demand, the task constraint, attention, anticipation and simplification were the critical performance parameters. More experienced athletes presented a cognitive advantage and develop cognitive strategies such as anticipation and simplification of navigation compared to less experienced. Conclusion The successful performance in orienteering depends on high physical conditioning and high aerobic demand, interchanging with moments of anaerobic demand. Furthermore, cognitive capacity and expertise can be definitive factors for performance in orienteering, resulting in a cognitive advantage over less experienced orienteers.