Behavioral and Cognitive Characteristics of Open-skill Athletes for a Mental Rotation Task : A Pilot Study Using Task Performance and Contingent Negative Variation (CNV)

<p>  In open-skill sports, athletes are required to perceive their ever-changing environment faster and more accurately, and to subsequently select more appropriate behaviors. Several psychological operations are thought to play a role in athletes' cognitive processes, of which mental rotation is one. Matsumoto et al. (2017) have examined the behavioral and cognitive characteristics of open-skill athletes during a mental rotation task by examining the relationship between task performance and rotation related negativity (RRN), which is considered to reflect the process of mental rotation. However, the preparation of task seems to be not a little related to the task performance. The contingent negative variation (CNV) is a slow negative brainwave that develops during the time interval between a warning stimulus and an imperative stimulus. The changes in amplitude depend on the expectation, attention, or motor preparation for the imperative stimulus. The purpose of this study was to preliminarily evaluate the behavioral and cognitive characteristics of open-skill athletes during the preparation for the task by examining the relationship between task performance and CNV amplitudes obtained from the electroencephalogram (EEG) of skilled ice hockey players (athlete group) and sedentary students (control group). We calculated the percentage and mean reaction time (RT) of the correct responses as well as the mean CNV amplitude, for which waveforms were obtained by separately averaging the electrocortical data from the warning stimulus to the imperative stimulus for the first and second half-sets of the trials, and subsequently analyzed the relationship between these measurements. The athlete group responded less accurately but faster than the control group, although both groups responded more accurately and faster in the first half-set than in the second half-set. No significant time difference in CNV amplitude was found between the first and second half-sets in the athlete group, while the control group showed larger right parietal CNV amplitude in the second half-set than in the first half-set. These findings indicated that open-skill athletes prioritized speed over accuracy and that their performance may have been improved due to the successful process following the presentation of the imperative stimulus, rather than the sufficient preparation of the task.</p>