TABLE 1.

Descriptives, cognitive background information, and reliability of the vocabulary learning task.

Group	Children (C)	Young adults (YA)	Older adults (OA)	ANOVA*
n Age (years)	24 (f = 13) M = 12.3 SD = 1.3	30 (f = 17) M = 21.5 SD = 4.4	24 (f = 9) M = 59.3 SD = 5.1
Basketball experience (years) Training per week (number of sessions) Still playing actively (percentage)	M = 4.2 SD = 1.9 M = 3.3 SD = 1.3 100%	M = 11.8 SD = 5.3 M = 3.5 SD = 1.2 100%	M = 40.5 SD = 5.4 M = 1.1 SD = 0.2 46%	OA > YA > C, F(2,50) = 244.20, p < 0.001 YA = C > OA, F(2,54) = 18.71, p < 0.001
Digit symbol substitution (cognitive speed; items per second)	M = 0.5 SD = 0.1	M = 0.7 SD = 0.2	M = 0.5 SD = 0.1	YA > C = OA, F(2,75) = 16.71, p < 0.001
D2 (sustained attention, score)	M = 114.0 SD = 29.7	M = 120.4 SD = 19.4	M = 136.3 SD = 42.8	OA = YA > C, F(2,75) = 3.25, p < 0.05
MWT-A (vocabulary, number of correct solutions)	M = 21.4 SD = 4.0	M = 28.2 SD = 3.2	M = 31.9 SD = 1.7	OA > YA > C, F(2,75) = 68.15, p < 0.001
Immediate recall accuracy [%] German word (GW) Pseudo word (PW)	93.19 87.71	97.61 92.00	94.72 85.28	GW > PW, F(1,75) = 56.54, p < 0.001 No sign. main effect of age group, F(2,75) = 2.72, p = 0.073, or age group × language interaction, F(2,75) = 1.97, p = 0.147
Retest reliability for recall time 1 to recall 3 (Cronbach’s Alpha)	α = 0.882	α = 0.946	α = 0.885

^∗Significant effects have been further analyzed with independent-samples t-tests.