title: Old dogs, new tricks: training the perceptual skills of senior tennis players.
abstract: The purpose of the study was to determine whether multidimensional perceptual-cognitive skills training, including situational awareness, anticipation, and decision making, improves on-court performance in older adults when compared with a physical training program, including stroke and footwork development. Senior tennis players (N = 27) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: perceptual-cognitive skills training, technique-footwork training, or no training. Results indicated that participants receiving perceptual-cognitive skills training had significantly faster response speeds, higher percentage of accurate responses, and higher percentage of performance decision making in posttest match situations. Findings provide clear evidence that perceptual-cognitive skills can be trained in aged individuals. Implications and suggestions for future research are offered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Caserta
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Janelle
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013715:Tennis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data