DIFFERENCES IN DYNAMIC VISUAL-ACUITY BETWEEN ATHLETES AND NONATHLETES

We surveyed the dynamic visual acuity of 53 university athletes and 46 nonathlete university students, using a Landolt C ring as a target. T he target moved from left to right on screen initially at the maximum angular velocity of 300-degrees/sec. and then gradually decreased in v elocity until the subject recognized the direction of the gap in the L andolt C ring. The angular velocities at which the subject correctly r ecognized the direction of the gap were used as the parameters of the acuity measure. When the sizes of the gap in the Landolt C ring were 4 2' and 28', there were no differences in the performances of die athle tes and nonathletes. However, when the gap sizes were 14' and 8', athl etes could recognize the gap at significantly higher velocities than t he nonathletes. In this case the dynamic visual acuity of athletes was superior to that of the nonathletes.