Analysis of the Relationship Between Training Experience and Visual Sensory Functions in Athletes from Different Sports

Introduction. Gaining insight into the mechanisms and scope of possible adaptations of visual functions to the conditions determined by the demands imposed by sports training seems to be very interesting not only from a cognitive point of view, but also with respect to the practical applications of the findings of such investigations in the training process. The aim of the study was to assess the function of early visual processing in athletes representing different sports disciplines with varying training experience. Material and methods. The study involved 95 athletes practising football (n = 24), volleyball (n = 22), boxing (n = 26), and rowing (n = 23). The bioelectric function of the visual pathway was assessed based on recordings of visual evoked potentials (VEPs). The regions which were stimulated were the peripheral and central areas of the retina. During the test, we recorded the amplitude (μV) and latency (ms) of the P100 component of the VEP waveform for both monocular stimulation (for the dominant and non-dominant eye) and binocular stimulation. Results. Lower VEP P100 amplitude values were found for the peripheral and central locations for monocular and binocular viewing in more experienced volleyball players and rowers (p < 0.05). In the case of boxers with greater training experience, a significantly lower (p < 0.05) amplitude of the VEP P100 wave was observed in the central location in the dominant eye. However, we did not find significant differences (p > 0.05) in intragroup variability in VEP P100 latency in relation to training experience in any of the sports disciplines examined. Conclusions. Training experience has an influence on the early stage of sensory processing with respect to neural activity. Training experience has been found to differentiate athletes in terms of the temporal parameters of the visual evoked potentials recorded in the current study only to a limited extent.