Between-Day Reliability of Visuomotor Response Times Under Stroboscopic Conditions Varying in Difficulty

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Human Movement Science
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Stroboscopic training (ST) is known to improve visuomotor performance in athletes.
• The precise relationship between ST difficulty and performance outcomes is not well-established.
• Understanding this dose-response relationship is crucial for optimizing training protocols.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how different levels of stroboscopic training difficulty affect visuomotor response times (RTs).
• To evaluate the reliability of RT measurements under stroboscopic vision across varying difficulty levels.
• To determine if performance changes are due to adaptation or habituation.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-two healthy participants completed a visuomotor response task under normal and stroboscopic vision at three difficulty levels (2.25 Hz, 4 Hz, 6 Hz) over three separate days.
• Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) and Coefficients of Variation (CoV) were used to assess reliability.
• Repeated measures ANOVAs analyzed the effects of difficulty and session day on RTs.

Main Results:

• Response times significantly slowed as stroboscopic training difficulty increased (p < .001).
• Session day did not significantly affect RTs.
• Relative reliability was good to excellent for normal, fast, and medium conditions, but moderate for the slow condition. Absolute reliability was acceptable (<5%) across all conditions.

Conclusions:

• A clear dose-response relationship exists between ST difficulty and visuomotor RTs.
• Individual variability in RTs under stroboscopic vision suggests the need for personalized training difficulties.
• High reliability scores indicate that improvements from ST are likely due to functional adaptations, not habituation.