Reactivity and event-related potentials during attentional tests in athletes

A series of attentional tests involving reaction times (RTs) was administer ed to 12 high-level young (age 17-18 years) volleyball players. During the tests, event-related potentials were recorded by electroencephalogram. In a simple reaction-time test (SRT), the subjects had to respond to a letter t hat appeared on a white screen. Other tests (attentional shifting tests) co nsisted of a go/no-go reaction time and a choice reaction time (CRT), divid ed into a short-latency CRT and a long-latency CRT. In the pre-stimulus per iod of these tests, there is a shift from broad attention to selective atte ntion, represented by a crowding of black points on the computer screen, fo llowed by the appearance of a letter in the centre of the crowding. The res ults show that RT increased from SRT to CRT. In the attentional shifting te sts, averaged waves of event-related potentials showed a contingent-negativ e-variation-like wave that was closely related to selective attention (sele ctive attention wave, SAW) before the onset of the stimulus. After the stim ulus, a P3 complex was recorded. Correlations were found between the SAW am plitude and P3 latency and amplitude, and between these parameters and RT a nd its variability. Higher SAW and P3 amplitudes were accompanied by a shor ter RT and a lower variability. The characteristics and the correlations th at exist between the various parameters are consistent with a possible use of these tests in the analysis of the attentional styles of athletes, and i n the evaluation of their progress with training.