Physical and psychomotor performance of Australian football and rugby league officials during a match simulation

Abstract

The onset of exercise facilitates an improvement in psychomotor performance until the second ventilatory threshold, after which performance is reduced. This inverted-U relationship appears valid for incremental and steady-state exercise, however, not for intermittent exercise. This study examined changes in psychomotor performance of team sport officials during a laboratory-based match simulation. Twelve elite Australian football (n = 5) and rugby league (n = 7) officials (32.5 ± 5.5 years; 180.0 ± 6.8 cm; 78.8 ± 7.6 kg) completed the match simulation on a non-motorised treadmill. Physiological measures were routinely taken, while psychomotor performance was assessed using the Eriksen flanker task (multiple-choice response time). Significant reductions (P < 0.05) were observed in distance covered and high-speed running during the second half when compared to the first. No significant differences (P > 0.05) in psychomotor performance at different time points were observed. Response time was significantly improved when running above 65% of maximal sprinting speed (P < 0.01). This data questions the application of the inverted-U hypothesis for intermittent exercise and suggests that the short high-intensity efforts may not result in the same physiological events that limit psychomotor performance during sustained high-intensity exercise. More so, the high-intensity efforts during the match protocol appeared to promote psychomotor performance during the intermittent exercise.

Keywords:

• cognition
• perceptual skill
• intermittent exercise
• decision making
• team sport officials

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the National Rugby League Referees department, in particular Bill Harrigan and Stuart Raper, for their assistance throughout this project.