Correlation between visual system function and visuo-cognitive skills in elite football players

Understanding the link between visual system parameters and visuo-cognitive abilities can enhance strategies to optimise visual performance in daily and professional tasks.

To investigate the relationship between visual system parameters - such as visual acuity, refractive error, binocular vision (including phoria, fusional vergences, vergence and accommodation facility, and stereopsis) - and visuo-cognitive abilities, including perception span, multiple object tracking, and visual reaction time.

All measurements were conducted by the same specialist in a single session, starting with visual acuity assessment, followed by refractive error evaluation, binocular vision assessments, including phoria (cover test and Thorington test), fusional vergence, vergence facility, accommodative facility, and stereopsis, and concluding with visuo-cognitive tests, namely perception span, multiple object tracking, and reaction time. Data were analysed using Pearson's correlation test, with a statistical significance set at p < 0.05.

The study involved 218 elite male football players with a mean age of 24.6 ± 4.8 years. The perception span correlated positively with monocular (r = 0.185, p = 0.003) and binocular (r = 0.176, p = 0.005) visual acuity and negatively with anisometropia (r = -0.115, p = 0.045), near esophoria (r = -0.347, p = 0.010), and near stereopsis (r = -0.178, p = 0.004). Weak positive correlations were observed with positive fusional vergence at distance (r = 0.126, p = 0.032) and multiple object tracking (r = 0.207, p = 0.001). Multiple object tracking correlated negatively with horizontal phoria at both distance (r = -0.141, p = 0.019) and near (r = -0.141, p = 0.019) and with stereopsis at distance (r = -0.255, p = 0.024) and near (r = -0.142, p = 0.018), with more pronounced correlations in participants with esophoria. Visual reaction time correlated positively with emmetropia (r = 0.141, p = 0.019), distance horizontal phoria (r = 0.121, p = 0.037), and distance negative fusional vergence break (r = 0.124, p = 0.034).

Binocular vision, vergence, and phoria may influence visuo-cognitive performance in elite football players. Effective binocular coordination and minimal refractive error appear beneficial, whereas esophoria was linked to reduced performance. Although correlations were weak, the findings highlight the multifactorial nature of visuo-cognitive function in sport.