Contingent negative variation and reaction time of physically-trained subjects in simple and discriminative tasks

Contingent negative variations (CNV) were recorded during the S1-S2 interval of two simple and one discriminative task at Fz, Cz and Pz of 12 physically-trained college athletes and 12 non-trained students. The reaction time to S2 was also measured. The whole mean CNV amplitude average over the 2 sec S1-S2 interval and the segmented CNV amplitudes of the 250 msec epochs were submitted to 4-way ANOVA (physical training x task x electrode position x gender), while the mean reaction time was analyzed by 3-way ANOVA. The whole mean CNV amplitude and all the segmented CNV amplitudes were greater in the physically-trained group than in the non-trained group. In all tasks the mean reaction times of the physically-trained group were significantly shorter than those of the non-trained group. The main effect of gender was not statistically significant with respect to the CNV amplitudes and the mean reaction time. The increased CNV amplitude and the shortened reaction time of the physically-trained group were discussed in relation to the reported psychophysiological correlates of CNV. The present study shows that CNV provides a technique of possible value for assessing attention and motor preparation of workers engaged in vigilance tasks.