Don't Judge Athletes By Their Covers

Choice of sport affects brain skills, too

(HealthDayNews) -- Athletes really do look different, depending on the sport. Swimming builds up different sets of muscles than weight lifting or gymnastics.

But selection of a sport can also build other skills, according to a study published in Perceptual Motor Skills.

Researchers from the Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece, studied the perceptual skills of athletes in three different sports, and here's what they found:

  • Basketball experts were best at prediction and selective attention.
  • Volleyball experts performed better on perceptual speed, focused attention and estimation of speed and direction of a moving object.
  • Water-polo players were best at decision making, visual reaction time and spatial orientation.

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