Properties of fast vergence eye movements and horizontal saccades in athletes

Visual information based on eye movements influences sports performance in 3-D space. The purpose of this study was to clarify the properties of fast vergence eye movements and horizontal saccades in athletes. Thirty-four college students were classified into three groups: twelve baseball players (BAS), ten track and field athletes (TRA) and twelve non-athletes (NON). The oculomotor tasks consisted of vergence eye movements (vergence task) including convergence and divergence, and horizontal saccades (saccade task). The participants made a rapid gaze shift toward a visual target. For the vergence task, the target was irradiated at 5 different vergence angles (3, 5, 10, 15, 20°) randomly. For the saccade task, the target was irradiated at 5 different saccade amplitudes (0, ±5, ±10°) randomly. The results showed that the peak eye velocity was higher in order of saccade, convergence, and divergence eye movements. The gain of convergence and saccades was higher than that of divergence. Furthermore, the latency of saccades was shorter than that of convergence and divergence. These results suggest that saccades and convergence are superior compared with divergence, and the dynamic property of convergence is partially analogous to horizontal saccades. The results of the comparison between the three groups showed that the latency of convergence was shorter for BAS than for NON. Therefore, different visual experience and baseball training could influence the gaze-shift dynamics during convergence eye movements.