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. 2024;56(6):752-759.
doi: 10.1080/00222895.2024.2388769. Epub 2024 Aug 14.

Eye Movement Differences in Contact Versus Non-Contact Olympic Athletes

Nicholas P Murray  1 , Melissa Hunfalvay  2 , Christopher Mesagno  3 , Brittany Trotter  1 , Eva V Monsma  4 , Ethan Greenstein  5 , Frederick Robert Carrick  6   7   8
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Eye Movement Differences in Contact Versus Non-Contact Olympic Athletes

Nicholas P Murray et al. J Mot Behav. 2024.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in oculomotor functioning between Olympic-level contact and non-contact sports participants. In total, 67 male and female Olympic-level contact (n = 27) and non-contact (n = 40) athletes completed oculomotor tasks, including Horizontal Saccade (HS), Circular Smooth Pursuit (CSP), Horizontal Smooth Pursuit (HSP), and Vertical Smooth Pursuit (VSP) using a remote eye tracker. No significant differences for sex or age occurred. Each variable indicated higher scores for contact compared to non-contact athletes (p < .05) except for VSP Pathway differences and CSP Synchronization. A logistic regression was performed to determine the degree that HS measures, CSP synchronization, and VSP pathway predicted sport type. The model was significant, χ2(6) = 37.08, p < .001, explaining 57.4% of the variance and correctly classified 88.1% of cases. The sensitivity was 87.5% and specificity was 88.9%. CSP synchronization did not increase the likelihood of participating in a contact sport. This was the first study to identify oculomotor differences between Olympic athletes of contact and non-contact sports, which adds to the growing evidence that oculomotor functioning may be a reliable, quick, real-time tool to help detect mTBI in sport.

Keywords: concussion; eye tracking; oculomotor; sports; traumatic brain injury.

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