Investigation of pro-saccade and finger flexion reaction times in basketball and racket sports players

抄録

  The differences in the reaction times of finger flexion and pro-saccade were investigated between sports in which information processing related to pro-saccade would be markedly different. Subjects comprised 21 and 22 young adults belonging to a table tennis or badminton club (RS group) and a basketball club (BB group), respectively, for 3 years or more. Pro-saccade and index finger flexion on the dominant hand side were performed based on the appearance of targets in the peripheral and foveal visual fields, respectively. The reaction times of pro-saccade and finger flexion were analyzed. The pro-saccade reaction time to a peripheral visual target was significantly shorter in the BB group than in the RS group, while no significant difference was found between these groups in finger reaction time to a foveal visual target. These findings suggest that the functions related to gaze shift, including attention to the peripheral visual field, identification of a visual target and release of fixation, change according to sports experience.