Sport expertise and visuomotor performance: Evidence from 598 athletes aged 14-39 years

Abstract

Visuomotor functions are critical to athletes’ perception, decision-making, and motor execution. This retrospective cross-sectional study analyzed 598 athletes (365 male, 233 female; 14–39 years) assessed with a unique combination of standard optometric tests and a digital battery across 10 visuomotor domains. Participants were categorized by competitive level (professional/non-professional) and sport type (strategic/interceptive). A semiparametric Bayesian model examined associations between athlete characteristics and visuomotor scores, and a self-organizing map visualized multivariate profiles. Professionals showed credible advantages in six of ten domains, including depth perception, perception span, reaction time, multiple object tracking, and near-far quickness by both methods. Visual clarity and contrast sensitivity did not differ, and binocular vergence facility and binocular accommodation facility showed small, non-credible differences. Female athletes showed better depth perception and binocular accommodation facility, whereas male athletes performed better in contrast sensitivity and multiple object tracking. Strategic sport athletes outperformed interceptive athletes in multiple object tracking. Multivariate results showed close links between perception span and multiple object tracking and between binocular vergence and binocular accommodation facilities. These findings indicate that higher competitive status is associated with superior dynamic and cognitively demanding visuomotor functions, although the cross-sectional design precludes causal inference. The results support targeted visuomotor profiling in athletes.