Automatic detection of peripheral stimuli in shooters and handball players: an event-related potential study

• Published in: Experimental brain research Vol. 239; no. 5; pp. 1531 - 1538
• Main Authors: Petro, Bela, Lénárt, Ágota, Gaál, Zsófia Anna, Kojouharova, Petia, Kökény, Tibor, Ökrös, Csaba, Czigler, István
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-05-2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Athletes; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Event-related potentials; Evoked potentials (Electrophysiology); Handball; Information processing; Mismatch negativity; Neurology; Neurosciences; Psychological aspects; Psychological research; Research Article; Stimuli (Psychology); Visual field; Visual perception; Visual plasticity; Hungary; Handball; Peripheral visual sensitivity; Event-related brain potentials (ERPs); Automatic change detection; Shooting; Visual mismatch negativity
• ISSN: 0014-4819; 1432-1106
• DOI: 10.1007/s00221-021-06071-2

This study examined the practice-related sensitivity of automatic change detection. The visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) component of event-related potentials was compared in handball players and in sport shooters. Whereas effective performance in handball requires processing of a wide visual field, effective performance in shooting requires concentration to a narrow field. Thus, we hypothesized larger sensitivity to peripheral stimuli violating the regularity of sequential stimulation in handball players. Participants performed a tracking task, while task-irrelevant checkerboard patterns (a frequent and an infrequent type) were presented in the lateral parts of the visual field. We analyzed the vMMN, a signature of automatic detection of violating sequential regularity, and sensory components (P1, N1, and P2). We obtained larger vMMN in the handball players’ group indicating larger sensitivity to peripheral stimuli. These results suggest the plasticity of the automatic visual processing, i.e., it can adapt to sport-specific demands, and this can be captured even in a short experimental session in the laboratory.