Saccadic eye movements and finger reaction times of table tennis players of different levels

Abstract

Building upon the finding that athletes have faster saccadic eye movements than controls (Lenoir et al., Percept Motor Skills 2000;91:546-552), the aim of this study was to compare prosaccadic and antisaccadic eye movements in table tennis players of different levels. Saccadic latency, error rate, and reaction time on a visuomotor task (key press) were measured. Saccadic latency and error rate did not decrease with an increasing level of expertise. Finger reaction times correlated positively with antisaccadic latencies, but not with prosaccadic latencies. It is concluded that in an active population, saccadic performance does not allow the discrimination between recreational, moderate, and top players because of a ceiling effect. The relation between eye and finger movements is discussed in the framework of common brain areas during movement preparation.