Visual Choice Reaction Timein Schoolchildren Aged 12-14 Years Old. Comparison between Trained and Untrained Children

The purpose of the work was to study if there is any difference in visual choice reaction time [VCRT] between the children who practice sports and non-sporting children, and if the performance depends on the gender and design of the testing: continuous [50 and 100 trials] versus sequential [10 trials each sequence, with 30 sec. rest between sequences]. The 20 non-sporting children [10 girls and 10 boys] were tested only continuously but the 20 sporting ones [10 girls and 10 boys] were tested both continuously and sequentially. While testing the subjects were using their preferred hand. The results support the conclusion that while there is no difference between girls and boys, VCRT in sporting children is significantly better, than in non-sporting ones, both in girls [657.84 ± 70.02 vs 760.77 ± 112.82 ms; p<0.05 ] and boys [698.67 ± 65.27 vs 833.09 ± 102.36 ms; p<0.01]. On the other hand, in athletes the results obtained within the 100 trials sequential testing were significantly better than in the continuous testing.