(65) EFFECTS OF AROUSAL ON ATTENTION AND REACTION TIME IN COLLEGIATE STUDENT ATHLETES

With athletic skills in sports requiring quick reaction times, accurate hand-eye coordination, and the ability to make decisions quickly, the cognitive side of athletic profiling should be given attention.

Purpose: the purpose of this study was to measure changes in reaction time (RT), hand-eye coordination (HEC), and decision-making (DM) when increasing an athlete’s arousal (via increased heart rate and sound stimulus).

Methods: Eleven participants from all genders were recruited to participate in the study: seven females (age: 19.09±1.31 yr, weight: 74.46±12.42 kg, height: 168.22±6.41 cm) and four males (age: 19.5±1.22 yr, weight: 82.68± 7.59 kg, height: 175.20±27.07 cm). All of them were current competing student-athletes at the NCAA Division III level across a variety of sports. The participants reported to the lab on three separate occasions to have their RT, HEC, and DM measured under three different arousal conditions: low arousal (no sound or elevated heart rate), medium arousal (no sound but with elevated heart rate), and high arousal (sound and elevated heart rate). Heart rate was elevated to 75-85% of their age-predicted maximum, and held for at least three minutes, using a standardized graded walking protocol on a treadmill. Sound was administered via noise-cancelling headphones that played simulated crowd noise. The three conditions were administered in a randomized order for each participant. RT, HEC, and DM were measured by completing tasks on a cognitive sensory station that consisted of a large touchscreen and tablet (Senaptec, Beaverton, Oregon).

Results: Fourteen different metrics that quantified RT, HEC, and DM were recorded across the three different conditions. No statistical differences were reported across the metrics and the three arousal conditions (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: The activities designed to increase arousal in this study did not significantly change cognitive function within the collegiate student-athlete participants. A possible limitation was that the designed conditions were not stressful enough to alter arousal, and therefore could not create changes in cognitive athleticism. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: This study could possibly provide evidence that athletes have learned through practice and competition to control arousal levels from physiological and auditory stressors. Competitive athletes are still able to maintain high reaction time, hand-eye coordination, and decision-making even when arousal is changed. As research continues to grow around integration of technology into sport performance and training, there is a significant chance athletes could improve their decision-making, hand-eye coordination, and reaction time through physical and cognitive training.

Acknowledgements: None