Abstract
Previous research (Paul et al., 2011) found significant improvements in reaction time and movement in Ping-Pong players who went through visual training. While most research has focused on performance in sports, few studies have examined the effect of sports playing in improving visual functions. The current study aimed to address this question by training participants with Ping-Pong playing. In this study, 15 college students of ages 18-35 went through the multiple test and training sessions within a 2-week period. On Day one and four participants were measured on Ping-Pong play performance and visual functions, including processing speed, motion-in-depth perception, and divided attention. On Day two and three, participants were trained with one of the two playing tasks against a Ping-Pong robot for approximately one hour. For the Ping-Pong play sessions, a robot shot balls towards participants’ side of the table in random direction, at three different speed levels with either left or right side spins. One training task involved catching and throwing back the Ping-Pong balls using one hand, while the other task involved intercepting the balls using a racket. Their scores of missed interceptions and failed returns were recorded. A four-way repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted to evaluate the effect of training on Ping-Pong play performance and visual functions. The results showed significant effects and interactions on play performance: Training, F(1, 10) = 5.64, p < .05; Speed, F(2, 20) = 17.12, p < .001; Training x Speed, F(2, 20) = 5.51, p < .05; And Training x Task x Spin x Speed, F(2, 20) = 10.90, p < .001. More importantly, significant improvement was found for the divided attention task after training, F(1, 6) = 8.76, p < .05. The results of the current study suggest that sports training not only improves play performance but also benefit visual functions.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015