6 ways an athlete's brain differs from an average person's

To triumph over their comPetition, athletes must be the fastest, strongest or nimblest contenders in their respective events. Record breakers must then push even further, surpassing the limits of known human capability.

But besides their physical prowess, athletes harness a unique set of mental skills that allow them to succeed in their respective disciplines. Numerous studies have shown that athletes' brains differ from nonathletes' brains.

Here are some examples of how Sports uniquely shape athletes' brains.

Related: What is doping? And which performance-enhancing drugs are banned?

Visual cue processing

The ability to quickly soak up visual information and make decisions accordingly is a crucial skill for athletes, especially those who play team Sports, such as soccer or basketball.

A 2013 study in the journal Scientific Reports revealed that professional ice hockey, soccer and rugby players are better visual learners than people with lower-level abilities in the same Sports.

The pros were compared with "elite amateurs" — in this case, U.S. college athletes and players from a European Olympic sport-training center. They were also compared with nonathlete university students. Compared with both groups, professional athletes performed better, and improved faster, on a task that tested their ability to focus on and track objects moving across a screen. In other words, their brains are more skilled at processing "dynamic visual scenes," or the world moving around them, the study authors found. The elite amateurs were also better at this than the nonathletes.