Attention in Athletes of High and Low Experience Engaged in Different Open Skill Sports

Abstract

In this study were examined differences in attentional style of athletes engaged in two open skill sports requiring high reactivity (karate and volleyball) in groups with high or low experience. 42 healthy men, 24 volleyball players, 12 of High Experience (first division Italian League players whose M age was 28 yr. ( SD = 5) and 12 of Low Experience (prejunior Italian team athletes whose M age was 19 yr. ( SD = 2), and 18 karateka, 9 of High Experience (3rd and 4th dan black belt athletes whose M age was 31 yr., SD = 5) and 9 of Low Experience (1st and 2nd dan black belt karateka whose M age was 32 yr., SD = 5). Tests involved different types of attention: Alert, Go/No-Go, Divided Attention, and Working Memory. For each one, the reaction time (RT), variability, change in RT, and number of errors were analysed. Karateka of High Experience reacted faster than those of Low Experience on the simple RT test, Alert ( M RT: 204 vs 237 msec., p < .01), while on the Divided Attention test, the High Experience subjects performed more poorly and committed more errors ( M errors: 4.89 vs 1.44, p < .003). Young volleyball players of Low Experience reacted faster than colleagues of High Experience on the Alert ( M RT: 187 vs 210 msec., p < .01) and Divided Attention tests ( M RT: 590 vs 688 msec., p < .001) but committed more errors (Divided Attention test, M errors: 6.50 vs 3.08, p < .007). For the Divided Attention and Working Memory tests, correlations were positive among errors, RT, and RT variability but only for volleyball athletes of High Experience, suggesting they showed higher attention and stability in complex reactions than the group with Low Experience. No significant correlations were noted for either group of karateka on complex reactions. Results suggested that the attentional resources were engaged in different ways in the two groups of athletes and, in each group, there were differences between persons of High and Low Experience.