Eye Movement Differences in Contact Versus Non-Contact Olympic Athletes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in oculomotor functioning between Olympic-level contact and non-contact sports participants. In total, 67 male and female Olympic-level contact ( = 27) and non-contact ( = 40) athletes completed oculomotor tasks, including Horizontal Saccade (HS), Circular Smooth Pursuit (CSP), Horizontal Smooth Pursuit (HSP), and Vertical Smooth Pursuit (VSP) using a remote eye tracker. No significant differences for sex or age occurred.

Age-Based Developmental Biomarkers in Eye Movements: A Retrospective Analysis Using Machine Learning.

This study aimed to identify when and how eye movements change across the human lifespan to benchmark developmental biomarkers. The sample size comprised 45,696 participants, ranging in age from 6 to 80 years old ( = 30.39; = 17.

Influence of modified starches on mental performance and physical activity following an exhaustive bout of exercise.

Slow-releasing carbohydrates may delay the effects of fatigue after exhaustive exercise. The purpose of this study was to observe the influence that hydrothermally modified starches (HMS) and traditional maltodextrin (MAL) supplements had on physical endurance and mental performance following exhaustive exercise. Male participants completed a VO max and 2 days of cycling sessions using a Velotron ergometer.

Assessing between-officer variability in responses to a live-acted deadly force encounter as a window to the effectiveness of training and experience.

We aimed to infer the effectiveness of officers' training and experience by assessing consistency of behavioural responses between them. If officers facing the same scenario respond in similar ways, this implies their use of shared cognition, through acquired in-common tactical knowledge. Officers ( = 42) responded to a live-acted scenario in which an assailant ultimately discharged his weapon.

Gaze Control and Tactical Decision-Making Under Stress in Active-Duty Police Officers During a Live Use-of-Force Response.

Police officers during dynamic and stressful encounters are required to make rapid decisions that rely on effective decision-making, experience, and intuition. Tactical decision-making is influenced by the officer's capability to recognize critical visual information and estimation of threat. The purpose of the current study is to investigate how visual search patterns using cluster analysis and factors that differentiate expertise (e.

Concussed Neural Signature is Substantially Different than Fatigue Neural Signature in Non-concussed Controls.

Traumatic brain injuries can result in short-lived and long-lasting neurological impairment. Identifying the correct recovery timeframe is challenging, as balance-based metrics may be negatively impacted if testing is performed soon after exercise. Thirty-two healthy controls and seventeen concussed individuals performed a series of balance challenges, including virtual reality optical flow perturbation.

Long-Term Effects of Low-Level Blast Exposure and High-Caliber Weapons Use in Military Special Operators.

Chronic low-level blast exposure has been linked with neurological alterations and traumatic brain injury (TBI) biomarkers. Impaired smooth-pursuit eye movements (SPEM) are often associated with TBI. The purpose of this study was to determine whether long-term operators of low-level blast exposure or high-caliber weapons use displayed oculomotor behaviors that differed from controls.

Oculomotor Behavior Predict Professional Cricket Batting and Bowling Performance.

A new, shorter version of cricket was introduced recently (Twenty20; T20). Since its inception, T20 cricket has rapidly become a popular and exciting format of cricket. However, there is little understanding of factors such as visual-motor control that influence expert performance.

Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements as a Biomarker for Mild Concussion within 7-Days of Injury.

Aim: Deficits in smooth-pursuit eye movements (SPEM) are often associated with mild traumatic brain injury(TBI). Eye tracking tests serve as a quick objective clinical tool to assess such predictive visual tracking. In this study, SPEM was assessed along circular, horizontal and vertical trajectories in adolescents with concussion and age-matched controls.

Oculomotor Training for Poor Saccades Improves Functional Vision Scores and Neurobehavioral Symptoms.

Objectives: To determine if participants with saccadic dysfunction improved after participating in a standardized oculomotor training program. A secondary objective was to accurately quantify change in saccades after training using eye tracking technology. A third objective was to examine patients' neurobehavioral symptoms before and after oculomotor training using the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI).

Fixation stability as a biomarker for differentiating mild traumatic brain injury from age matched controls in pediatrics.

Objectives: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an increasingly significant health concern worldwide, compounded by the difficultly in detection and diagnosis. Fortunately, a growing body of research has identified oculomotor behavior, specifically fixations, saccades and smooth pursuit eye movements as a promising endophenotype for neurotrauma. To date, limited research exists using fixation stability in a comparative study to indicate the presence of a mild TBI (mTBI), especially in the pediatric population.

Oculomotor Behavior as a Biomarker for Differentiating Pediatric Patients With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Age Matched Controls.

Importance: Children have the highest incidence of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in the United States. However, mTBI, specifically pediatric patients with mTBI, are notoriously difficult to detect, and with a reliance on traditional, subjective measurements of eye movements, the subtle but key oculomotor deficits are often missed.

Objective: The purpose of this project is to determine if the combined measurement of saccades, smooth pursuit, fixations and reaction time represent a biomarker for differentiating pediatric patients with mild traumatic brain injury compared to age matched controls.

Anterior-Posterior Balance Perturbation Protocol Using Lifelike Virtual Reality Environment.

Virtual reality (VR) paradigms have proved to be a valid method to challenge and perturb balance. There is little consensus in the literature on the best protocol design to perturb balance and induce postural sway. Current VR interventions still lack a well-defined standardized metric to generate a virtual environment that can perturb balance in an efficacious, lifelike, and repeatable manner.

Vertical smooth pursuit as a diagnostic marker of traumatic brain injury.

Aim: Neural deficits were measured via the eye tracking of vertical smooth pursuit (VSP) as markers of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The present study evaluated the ability of the eye tracking tests to differentiate between different levels of TBI severity and healthy controls.

Methodology: Ninety-two individuals divided into four groups (those with mild, moderate or severe TBI and healthy controls) participated in a computerized test of VSP eye movement using a remote eye tracker.

The Cognitive Demands of Gait Retraining in Runners: An EEG Study.

High impact forces during running have been associated with tibial stress injuries. Previous research has demonstrated increasing step rate will decrease impact forces during running. However, no research has determined the cognitive demand of gait retraining.

Combination therapy with mandibular advancement and expiratory positive airway pressure valves reduces obstructive sleep apnea severity.

Study Objectives: Mandibular advancement splint (MAS) therapy is a well-tolerated alternative to continuous positive airway pressure for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Other therapies, including nasal expiratory positive airway pressure (EPAP) valves, can also reduce OSA severity. However, >50% of patients have an incomplete or no therapeutic response with either therapy alone and thus remain at risk of adverse health outcomes.

The Reliability, Validity, and Normative Data of Interpupillary Distance and Pupil Diameter Using Eye-Tracking Technology.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of interpupillary distance (IPD) and pupil diameter (PD) measures using an infrared eye tracker and central point stimuli. Validity of the test compared to known clinical tools was determined, and normative data was established against which individuals can measure themselves.

Methods: Participants (416) across various demographics were examined for normative data.

Continuous positive airway pressure treatment does not normalize the prolonged reflex inhibition to inspiratory loading in obstructive sleep apnea.

In obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the short-latency inhibitory reflex (IR) of inspiratory muscles to airway occlusion is prolonged in proportion to the severity of the OSA. The mechanism underlying the prolongation may relate to chronic inspiratory muscle loading due to upper airway obstruction or sensory changes due to chronic OSA-mediated inflammation. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy prevents upper airway obstruction and reverses inflammation.

A comparison of visual search strategies of elite and non-elite tennis players through cluster analysis.

Considerable research has documented that successful performance in interceptive tasks (such as return of serve in tennis) is based on the performers' capability to capture appropriate anticipatory information prior to the flight path of the approaching object. Athletes of higher skill tend to fixate on different locations in the playing environment prior to initiation of a skill than their lesser skilled counterparts. The purpose of this study was to examine visual search behaviour strategies of elite (world ranked) tennis players and non-ranked competitive tennis players (n = 43) utilising cluster analysis.

Stress reactivity, health behaviors, and compliance to medical care in breast cancer survivors.

Purpose/objectives: To explore relationships among quality of life (QOL), stress reactivity, health behaviors, and compliance to medical care in breast cancer survivors.

Design: One-time descriptive laboratory study.

Setting: A visual motor laboratory at a rural university in the southeastern United States.

Acute physical activity on cognitive function: a heart rate variability examination.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of physical activity and cognitive function (as determined by reaction time and the trail-making test) in active versus non-active participants. Participants were divided into one of four groups: active experimental, active control, non-active experimental and non-active control. All groups completed a complex cognitive task (the trail-making test) as well as a set of reaction time tasks both before and after the experimental session.

Effect of airway inflammation on short-latency reflex inhibition to inspiratory loading in human scalene muscles.

The short-latency reflex inhibition of human inspiratory muscles produced by loading is prolonged in asthma and obstructive sleep apnoea, both diseases involving airway and systemic inflammation. Both diseases also involve repetitive inspiratory loading. Although airway mucosal afferents are not critical components of the normal reflex arc, during airway inflammation, prolongation of the reflex may be caused by altered mucosal afferent sensitivity, or altered central processing of their inputs.

Respiratory care of patients with cervical spinal cord injury: a review.

Respiratory complications following cervical spinal cord injury are common and are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality after this type of injury. Impaired mechanics of ventilation, poor cough, increased secretions and bronchospasm predispose to atelectasis, pneumonia and exacerbations of respiratory failure. Prolonged mechanical ventilation and tracheostomy are often required.

Differential effects of low-intensity motor cortical stimulation on the inspiratory activity in scalene muscles during voluntary and involuntary breathing.

To assess the cortical contribution to breathing, low-intensity transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was delivered over the motor cortex in 10 subjects during: (i) voluntary static inspiratory efforts, (ii) hypocapnic voluntary ventilation (end-tidal CO(2), 2.7±0.4% mean±SD), and (iii) hypercapnic involuntary ventilation (end-tidal CO(2), 6.

Implicit overcompensation: the influence of negative self-instructions on performance of a self-paced motor task.

According to Wegner's (1994) theory of ironic processes of mental control, self-instructions not to perform in a certain way, together with mental loads, can induce thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that are precisely the opposite of intention. Wegner's theory was tested against the implicit overcompensation hypothesis, which states that movement direction and magnitude are implicitly dictated by self-instruction, irrespective of load, promoting overcompensation of action. Two experiments were conducted using a golf-putting task.