Standardised computer-based reaction tests predict the sport-specific visuomotor speed and performance of young elite table tennis athletes

Hülsdünker, Thorben; Ostermann, Martin; Mierau, Andreas

doi:10.1080/24748668.2019.1688071

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The field test was designed to transfer a standardized laboratory reaction task to a more sport-specific condition. This approach has previously been applied to elite table tennis athletes where reactions achieved in an identical laboratory reaction task were strongly related to the reaction speed in response to a table tennis ball machine (33). However, for the badminton situation, the field task seemed to heavily rely on anticipation rather than reaction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short- and Long-Term Stroboscopic Training Effects on Visuomotor Performance in Elite Youth Sports. Part 1: Reaction and Behavior

Hülsdünker¹,

Gunasekara²,

Mierau³

2020

Medicine &Amp; Science in Sports &Amp; Exercise

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PurposeRecent research suggests that stroboscopic training is an effective tool to improve visual and visuomotor performance. However, many studies were limited by small samples, short training interventions, inexperienced athletes, and an exclusive focus on short-term effects. This first part of the study evaluates the short- and long-term effects of stroboscopic training on visuomotor reaction speed in elite athletes.MethodsForty-five young elite badminton athletes participated in this study, of which 32 (13.7 yr) were included in the final data analysis. Participants were assigned to an intervention (stroboscopic vision) or control group (normal vision). Both groups performed identical badminton-specific training drills implemented into the regular training schedule. Before and after a 10-wk training period and after a 6-wk retention interval, athletes performed a laboratory reaction test to determine EMG onset and visuomotor reaction time (VMRT). In addition, a field test investigated stroboscopic training effects on the quality of ball–racquet contact and net drop performance.ResultsVMRT decreased immediately after stroboscopic training (pre, 251 ms; post, 238 ms; P = 0.005, d = 0.63), and reactions remained significantly faster after the retention interval (retention, 241 ms; P = 0.041, d = 0.50). Analyses on EMG onset data suggested these adaptations were attributable to the premotor rather than the motor time. VMRT remained unchanged in the control group (pre, 252 ms; post, 256; retention, 253 ms; P > 0.99). Field test performance improvements were observed for the quality of ball–racquet contact and net drop performance; however, changes were not different between groups.ConclusionsStroboscopic training induced short- and long-term accelerations of visuomotor reaction speed in elite badminton players. Stroboscopic eyewear may be an effective training tool to accelerate visuomotor reactions in highly skilled athletes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short- and Long-Term Stroboscopic Training Effects on Visuomotor Performance in Elite Youth Sports. Part 1: Reaction and Behavior

Hülsdünker¹,

Gunasekara²,

Mierau³

2020

Medicine &Amp; Science in Sports &Amp; Exercise

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“…In one of the recent studies by Rahimi et al overall faster reaction times were observed among strategic sport athletes [25]. Sports persons may be at an advantage as they are required to process multiple stimuli, engage in coordinated actions and execute complex actions [29]. Most of the previous work comparing strategic team sports (basketball, volleyball for instance) with self-paced sports (eg swimming) has demonstrated that the cognitive demands of playing such sport may train athletes to perform better on tasks of attention and executive functions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Sports Performance of Athletes Engaged in Strategic Team Sports

BC,

Kumar,

R Kar

2023

J Clin Psychol Neurol

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We examined the cognitive performance of athletes engaged in strategic team sports such as football and basketball with sixty participants including athletes with at least five years of experience at National/State level in football and basketball and non-athletes. Measures of vigilance (continuous performance task), selective attention (spatial cuing task), visual search (feature and conjunction search task), attention network task, working memory (n-back task) and motion perception (apparent motion task) were employed. Athletes outperformed non- athletes on measures of vigilance, visual search, selective attention, and motion perception as they need to process multiple stimuli and engage in coordinated actions. Compared to football players, basketball players performed better with respect to vigilance, attentional facilitation and shifting; and faster target detection in conjunction search task with higher set-size. This is explained in terms of the need to assess the diverse environment and dynamically respond to the requirements related to movement sequences. Basketball and football players were comparable to non-athletes on the working memory task. Football players showed better performance on motion perception task compared to basketball players by effectively varying the temporal distance between stimuli for a strong motion percept, which may account for their ability to judge the speed of motion helping them to accurately perceive other’s actions to prepare for their own action. Thus, different strategic team sports may involve different cognitive skills mediating sports performance. Future work needs to explore more about sport- specific cognitive-perceptual expertise in athletes engaged in team sports as a function of training and experience using a longitudinal design.

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“…This assumption is further supported by the facts that (a) in table tennis athletes available neuroimaging studies investigating expertise-related effects (i.e., neural efficiency) are mostly limited to laboratory-based investigations in which no table tennis-specific movements were performed (Guo et al 2017 ; Hülsdünker et al 2019b , 2019a ; Yingying Wang et al 2019 ; Wolf et al 2014 ; Wolf et al 2015 ), and (b) that a profound knowledge on the neural process of motor control (e.g., expertise-related neural signatures of different table tennis stroke techniques) is an important prerequisite to optimize sport-specific training (Stephane Perrey & Besson 2018 ; Seidel-Marzi & Ragert 2020 ; Yarrow et al 2009 ), further studies elucidating the neural processes of high-level motor performance are needed to gain a more nuanced understanding of motor control in general and to facilitate sportive success in particular. Thus, in the current study, we aimed to investigate expertise-related effects concerning different table tennis stroke techniques while recording cortical activity via a whole-head fNIRS setup in table tennis experts and novices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Increased Cortical Activity in Novices Compared to Experts During Table Tennis: A Whole-Brain fNIRS Study Using Threshold-Free Cluster Enhancement Analysis

et al. 2023

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There is a growing interest to understand the neural underpinnings of high-level sports performance including expertise-related differences in sport-specific skills. Here, we aimed to investigate whether expertise level and task complexity modulate the cortical hemodynamics of table tennis players. 35 right-handed table tennis players (17 experts/18 novices) were recruited and performed two table tennis strokes (forehand and backhand) and a randomized combination of them. Cortical hemodynamics, as a proxy for cortical activity, were recorded using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and the behavioral performance (i.e., target accuracy) was assessed via video recordings. Expertise- and task-related differences in cortical hemodynamics were analyzed using nonparametric threshold-free cluster enhancement. In all conditions, table tennis experts showed a higher target accuracy than novices. Furthermore, we observed expertise-related differences in widespread clusters compromising brain areas being associated with sensorimotor and multisensory integration. Novices exhibited, in general, higher activation in those areas as compared to experts. We also identified task-related differences in cortical activity including frontal, sensorimotor, and multisensory brain areas. The present findings provide empirical support for the neural efficiency hypothesis since table tennis experts as compared to novices utilized a lower amount of cortical resources to achieve superior behavioral performance. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the task complexity of different table tennis strokes is mirrored in distinct cortical activation patterns. Whether the latter findings can be useful to monitor or tailor sport-specific training interventions necessitates further investigations.

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Standardised computer-based reaction tests predict the sport-specific visuomotor speed and performance of young elite table tennis athletes

Cited by 12 publications

References 28 publications

Short- and Long-Term Stroboscopic Training Effects on Visuomotor Performance in Elite Youth Sports. Part 1: Reaction and Behavior

Short- and Long-Term Stroboscopic Training Effects on Visuomotor Performance in Elite Youth Sports. Part 1: Reaction and Behavior

Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Sports Performance of Athletes Engaged in Strategic Team Sports

Increased Cortical Activity in Novices Compared to Experts During Table Tennis: A Whole-Brain fNIRS Study Using Threshold-Free Cluster Enhancement Analysis

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