Effect of Aerobic Physical Exercise and Training Status on the Perceived Egocentric Distances

^* Research Laboratory ''Sports performance optimization'' National Center of Medicine and Science in Sports (CNMSS), Tunis, Tunisia.
^‡ Research Unit, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education, Sfax, Tunisia.
E-mail: jarrayam@yahoo.fr, h_chtourou@yahoo.fr, n_souissi@yahoo.fr, karimchamari@gmx.net

Abstract

This study was to investigate the effect of moderateintensity-exercise and training status on the perception of the egocentric distance (PED). To this end, 18 footballers (23±0.5 yrs; 72±3.8 kg; 1.73±2.5 m) and 18 sedentary subjects (23±0.2 yrs; 69±4.2 kg; 1.71±2.8 m) participated in this study. The subjects have carried out a distance perception task while pedalling on an ergocycle for 10 min at an intensity of 60 % of the maximal-aerobic-power. The estimations were recorded during rest-time, phase 1 (1 to 2 min), phase 2 (5 to 6 min), phase 3 (9 to 10 min), and after the effort. The results showed that the precision of PED was greater in trained than untrained subjects (p<0.05) and during and after the exercise in comparison with before the physical task (p<0.05). The present result suggests that fitness level and physical exercise ameliorate the visual perceptual skills (PED) of the subjects.