A series of attentional tests involving reaction times (RTs) was administered to 12 high-level young (age 17-18 years) volleyball players. During the tests, event-related potentials were recorded by electroencephalogram. In a simple reaction-time test (SRT), the subjects had to respond to a letter that appeared on a white screen. Other tests (attentional shifting tests) consisted of a go/no-go reaction time and a choice reaction time (CRT), divided into a short-latency CRT and a long-latency CRT. In the pre-stimulus period of these tests, there is a shift from broad attention to selective attention, represented by a crowding of black points on the computer screen, followed by the appearance of a letter in the centre of the crowding. The results show that RT increased from SRT to CRT. In the attentional shifting tests, averaged waves of event-related potentials showed a contingent-negative-variation-like wave that was closely related to selective attention (selective attention wave, SAW) before the onset of the stimulus. After the stimulus, a P3 complex was recorded. Correlations were found between the SAW amplitude and P3 latency and amplitude, and between these parameters and RT and its variability. Higher SAW and P3 amplitudes were accompanied by a shorter RT and a lower variability. The characteristics and the correlations that exist between the various parameters are consistent with a possible use of these tests in the analysis of the attentional styles of athletes, and in the evaluation of their progress with training.

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The aim of the present study was to compare the results of a 1-week, double-blind placebo-controlled trial investigating the effects of isopolicosanol and octacosanol on reactivity and related brain activity. In particular, reaction time (RT) and event-related potentials such as contingent negative variations (CNV) and P300 (P3) have been studied. Thirty sedentary healthy students were tested before and after treatment (3.6 mg/die for 7 days) with orally administered tablets of placebo (group A), isopolicosanol (B) and octacosanol (C). RT were studied according to three procedures: simple RT (SRT), go/no-go RT (GRT) and choice RT (CRT). Results show that before treatment, there were no significant differences between groups A, B and C. After treatment, the RT of group A was unchanged, while the RT of groups B and C were reduced. In group B, in the SRT test, the reduction of RT was accompanied by electrical data exhibiting increased amplitudes of CNV and shorter latencies of P3. These results show that the main effect on reactivity and event-related potentials can be ascribed to policosanol and is mainly evident in the SRT test.

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