Abstract
Performance in all sports requires good spatial attention. This study investigates the impact of long-term sports training on lateralization of visual spatial attention and also explores if the type of sport (foot orienteering (FootO) vs. judo) could be related to differentiated effects on the pattern of lateralization. Thirty practitioners of FootO (aged 16-58 years, Mean age = 24.96±10.98; 16 males), 30 judo wrestlers (aged 16-60 years, Mean age = 25.96±10.61; 19 males), and 30 subjects who have never practiced any sport (aged 15-53 years, Mean age = 33.2±11.56; 13 males), were studied with a line-bisection task. All participants were right-handed and the athletes had at least 5 years of active sport practicing. Although the mean transection in the three groups was to the left of the true center regardless of the hand used suggesting right pseudoneglect, the accuracy of both hands was highest in the group of practitioners of FootO and lowest in the non-athletes group. Also, there were no between-hands differences in the accuracy among practitioners of FootO (t(30) = 0.062, p = 0.951), slightly better right hand accuracy in judo wrestlers (t(30) = 0.608, p = 0.548), and significantly better right hand accuracy in non-athletes (t(30) = -2.297, p = 0.029). In general, the results suggest that the active long-term training of any sport may affects functional brain organization of visual spatial attention towards its more balanced hemispheric presentation, but the type of sport is of great importance for the magnitude of the induced changes.
Highlights
Through the mechanisms of neural plasticity, the hemispheric lateralization of the brain is not a static phenomenon but is related to dynamic changes throughout the lifespan
When performing this task, neurologically intact adults tend to bisect slightly to left of true center with both hands (Hausmann et al, 2002). This systematic error has been called right pseudoneglect (Bowers & Heilman, 1980) and supposedly reflects the right hemisphere dominance for spatial accuracy (Hausmann et al, 2002; Jewell & McCourt, 2000). Both groups in this study demonstrated the typical right pseudoneglect, the group of foot orienteering (FootO) practitioners showed greater accuracy and smaller intermanual difference suggesting more balanced spatial accuracy in FootO practitioners than in non-athletes
The results from this study support the hypothesis that long-term practice of different sports might induce changes in the functional lateralization of spatial accuracy, but the magnitude of the induced changes will depend on the type of sport and its specifics
Summary
Through the mechanisms of neural plasticity, the hemispheric lateralization of the brain is not a static phenomenon but is related to dynamic changes throughout the lifespan. Provoked by the assumption that long-term sports training of foot orienteering (FootO), as a specific sport requiring good physical preparation and very well-developed spatial orientation skills, could lead to changes in hemispheric asymmetries for spatial accuracy through the mechanisms of neural plasticity, we conducted recently a comparative study using line-bisection task between subjects who have actively practiced Foot orienteering and subjects who have never practiced any sport (Asenova & Dimitrova, 2019). When performing this task, neurologically intact adults tend to bisect slightly to left of true center with both hands (Hausmann et al, 2002) This systematic error has been called right pseudoneglect (Bowers & Heilman, 1980) and supposedly reflects the right hemisphere dominance for spatial accuracy (Hausmann et al, 2002; Jewell & McCourt, 2000). Both groups in this study demonstrated the typical right pseudoneglect, the group of FootO practitioners showed greater accuracy and smaller intermanual difference suggesting more balanced spatial accuracy in FootO practitioners than in non-athletes
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