Is Cognitive-Motor Training with Unspecific Visual Stimuli Appropriate for Improving Neuromuscular Performance? A Study on Volleyball Athletes' Jumping Ability

New training methodologies for team sports emphasize the concurrent development of cognitive and neuromuscular abilities to enhance motor execution and decision-making. However, research on performing high-intensity motor-actions with unspecific visual stimuli for neuromuscular optimization remains limited This study evaluated the effects of four unspecific perceptual-cognitive dual tasks on countermovement jump (CMJ) performance—used as an indicator of force application ability—in federated volleyball players (n = 11) and examined how these effects evolved over five sessions. Results showed a significant reduction in jump height across all conditions, with the largest effect in the divided-attention simple reaction-time task (JD-A/SRT, p < .001). The reactive strength index was higher in simple reaction-time (JSRT) and JD-A/SRT tasks (p = .02 and p < .001). In the pairwise comparison between conditions per each session, we observed that this effect occurred in the last two sessions. Reaction time improved significantly across sessions in JD-A/SRT and complex-elective reaction-time (JCERT) tasks (p < .05). These findings suggest that unspecific visual stimuli negatively affect CMJ performance even in trained athletes. While motor interference persists over time, cognitive adaptation occurs. The results highlight the need to investigate sport-specific perceptual-cognitive demands and integrate them into efficient conditioning training programs.