VISUOSPATIAL ATTENTION LATERALIZATION 1 VISUOSPATIAL ATTENTION LATERALIZATION IN VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS AND IN ROWERS1,2

Summary.—In the present study, differences in visuospatial attention lateralization were evaluated in athletes engaged in open compared to closed skill sports and sedentary non-athletes. 23 volleyball players (open skill; Italian national level and regional level), 10 rowers (closed skill, Italian national level) and 23 sedentary participants responded to a computerized line-length judgment task. Five lines, differing in the length of their right and left segments, were randomly presented; the respondent made a forced-choice decision about the respective length of the two segments. Volleyball players responded significantly faster; those at the higher competitive level were also more accurate, making a statistically significantly lower number of leftward errors as compared with rowers and controls. If such responses are due to training rather than self-selection of ability, then the results may suggest the possibility of changing the distribution of visuospatial attention by training in open-skill sports