Reactivity and event-related potentials during attentional tests in athletes

Abstract

A series of attentional tests involving reaction times (RTs) was administered to 12 high-level young (age 17-18 years) volleyball players. During the tests, event-related potentials were recorded by electroencephalogram. In a simple reaction-time test (SRT), the subjects had to respond to a letter that appeared on a white screen. Other tests (attentional shifting tests) consisted of a go/no-go reaction time and a choice reaction time (CRT), divided into a short-latency CRT and a long-latency CRT. In the pre-stimulus period of these tests, there is a shift from broad attention to selective attention, represented by a crowding of black points on the computer screen, followed by the appearance of a letter in the centre of the crowding. The results show that RT increased from SRT to CRT. In the attentional shifting tests, averaged waves of event-related potentials showed a contingent-negative-variation-like wave that was closely related to selective attention (selective attention wave, SAW) before the onset of the stimulus. After the stimulus, a P3 complex was recorded. Correlations were found between the SAW amplitude and P3 latency and amplitude, and between these parameters and RT and its variability. Higher SAW and P3 amplitudes were accompanied by a shorter RT and a lower variability. The characteristics and the correlations that exist between the various parameters are consistent with a possible use of these tests in the analysis of the attentional styles of athletes, and in the evaluation of their progress with training.

Relation between reaction time and specific function in volleyball players

“…According to Stanganelli et al 3 , it is a complex modality that requires from the practitioner a combination of motor, coordinative and cognitive capacities, as higher the level of game, higher the demand of such capacities is. Therefore, the motor performance is directly related to the abilities of foreseeing and answering to the changes that happen in the environment 4,5, 6 . The ability of promptly answering to a stimulus is fundamental for an athlete's success in sports with characteristics such as the ones from volleyball.…”

Policosanol, Reaction Time and Event-Related Potentials

“…In previous experiments [24], we studied the effects of the application of a series of tests on reactivity and cerebral event-related potentials. We observed that changes in preimperative stimulus waves related to attentional shifts, and in post-stimulus waves are accompanied by changes in reaction time and its variability.…”

“…The tests were designed to replicate attentional shifts such as those occurring, for example, during a game situation in an open-skill sport activity [24]. The subject had the possibility to train himself 10 min before the onset of the experiment.…”

“…(2) Variability index (VI): VI = SD/ (1,000/mean RT). This parameter was used instead of the coefficient of variation because, in conditions of equal standard deviation (SD), it allows one to consider more favourably a shorter RT [24].…”

“…In a previous experiment [24], we developed a method to study attentional variations in athletes by analysing reactivity and event-related potentials. The same method has been applied here to evaluate the possible effects of isopolicosanol (a mixture of higher aliphatic primary alcohols such as octacosanol and another long-chain aliphatic alcohol with more than 30 carbon atoms and sterols such as stigmasterol and campesterol) and octacosanol (a longchain alcohol which is the main component of policosanol) on reactivity and on attentional processes.…”