Sustained attention in skilled and novice martial arts athletes: a study of event-related potentials and current sources

Abstract

Background. Research on sports has revealed that behavioral responses and event-related brain potentials (ERP) are better in expert than in novice athletes for sport-related tasks. Focused attention is essential for optimal athletic performance across different sports but mainly in combat disciplines. During combat, long periods of focused attention (i.e., sustained attention) are required for a good performance. Few investigations have reported effects of expertise on brain electrical activity and its neural generators during sport-unrelated attention tasks. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of expertise (i.e., skilled and novice martial arts athletes) analyzing the ERP during a sustained attention task (Continuous Performance Task; CPT) and the cortical three-dimensional distribution of current density, using the sLORETA technique. Methods. CPT consisted in an oddball-type paradigm presentation of five stimuli (different pointing arrows) where only one of them (an arrow pointing up right) required a motor response (i.e., target). CPT was administered to skilled and novice martial arts athletes while EEG were recorded. Amplitude ERP data from target and non-target stimuli were compared between groups. Subsequently, current source analysis for each ERP component was performed on each subject. sLORETA images were compared by condition and group using Statistical Non-Parametric Mapping analysis. Results. Skilled athletes showed significant amplitude differences between target and non-target conditions in early ERP components (P100 and P200) as opposed to the novice group; however, skilled athletes showed no significant effect of condition in N200 but novices did show a significant effect. Current source analysis showed greater differences in activations in skilled compared with novice athletes between conditions in the frontal (mainly in the Superior Frontal Gyrus and Medial Frontal Gyrus) and limbic (mainly in the Anterior Cingulate Gyrus) lobes. Discussion. These results are supported by previous findings regarding activation of neural structures that underlie sustained attention. Our findings may indicate a better-controlled attention in skilled athletes, which suggests that expertise can improve effectiveness in allocation of attentional resources during the first stages of cognitive processing during combat.

Keywords: Athletes; Brain electrical activity; ERP; Expertise; Martial arts; Sustained attention; sLORETA.

Figure 1. Continuous Performance Task.

Type, conditions, and probability of stimuli used in CPT.

Figure 2. Event-related potential waves.

ERP grand averages of both target (continuous lines) and non-target (dotted lines) conditions across posterior electrodes. Negative voltage is plotted upward. Black lines represent skilled athletes, and gray lines represent novice athletes. Time windows analyzed in which significant differences were found are shaded gray.

Figure 3. Event-related potentials topography.

CPT task scalp maps showing representations of the mean amplitudes analyzed in the time windows of the target and non-target conditions and amplitude differences. Skilled athletes are on the left side, and novice athletes are on the right side. Higher P100 and P200 response amplitudes were found in skilled athletes. P300 is also represented, but no significant differences between groups were found.

Figure 4. Current source maps.

Differences are shown at different time points for each component where significant differences were observed: N150 at 146 ms, P200 at 204 ms, and P300 at 352 ms, 408 ms, and 478 ms. Calibration bars indicate t-values. Colored areas (red and blue) represent significant values p < .05. Positive values mean higher condition differences (target > non-target) in skilled compared with novice athletes, while negative values mean higher condition differences (target > non-target) in novice compared with skilled athletes; the results only showed higher differences in skilled compared to the novice group.