Abstract
The issue of whether visually-mediated, simple reaction time (VRT) is faster in elite athletes is contentious. Here, we examined if and how VRT is affected by gaze stability in groups of international cricketers (16 females, 28 males), professional rugby-league players (21 males), and non-sporting controls (20 females, 30 males). VRT was recorded via a button-press response to the sudden appearance of a stimulus (circular target—diameter 0.8°), that was presented centrally, or 7.5° to the left or right of fixation. The incidence and timing of saccades and blinks occurring from 450 ms before stimulus onset to 225 ms after onset were measured to quantify gaze stability. Our results show that (1) cricketers have faster VRT than controls; (2) blinks and, in particular, saccades are associated with slower VRT regardless of the level of sporting ability; (3) elite female cricketers had steadier gaze (fewer saccades and blinks) compared to female controls; (4) when we accounted for the presence of blinks and saccades, our group comparisons of VRT were virtually unchanged. The stability of gaze is not a factor that explains the difference between elite and control groups in VRT. Thus we conclude that better gaze stability cannot explain faster VRT in elite sports players.
Highlights
The issue of whether visually-mediated, simple reaction time (VRT) is faster in elite athletes is contentious
It follows that the ability to refrain from saccades and blinks in the crucial period around stimulus onset could convey an advantage in VRT experiments because there will fewer periods when visual perception is suspended
We did not find evidence to support the hypothesis that better gaze stability explains faster VRT in elite sports players compared to controls, or that gaze stability can account for differences in VRT between sports with different visual demands
Summary
The issue of whether visually-mediated, simple reaction time (VRT) is faster in elite athletes is contentious. A similar result was observed with saccades that started 75 to 150 ms after stimulus onset It remains an open question, whether the reported faster VRT of elite athletes are a consequence of better gaze stability during the critical time of stimulus presentation during the VRT task. We adopt the protocol used by Johns et al.[39] to study the effect of gaze stability on VRT in elite cricket and rugby league players compared to non-sporting controls. We hypothesised that evidence of faster VRT in athletes may be related to better gaze stability, fewer saccades and blinks at critical times relative to stimulus onset. If faster VRT in elites originates from better gaze stability, we expect to see similar patterns in the results for our rugby players and cricketers compared to the controls (i.e. non-sport-specific advantage). Since the visual demands of cricket and rugby are very different (notably in relation to the requirements for gaze stability), it is possible that the pattern of results for the cricketers may differ relative to both the rugby players and the controls (i.e. a sport-specific advantage)
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