2023 Volume 26 Pages 203-212
In a variety of sports, visual functions in depth are important. Kinetic visual acuity and depth perception, which are existing methods for evaluating visual functions, have been used to reveal the property of visual functions in depth in athletes. However, since the existing methods do not directly reflect eye movements in depth, the property of vergence eye movements, which respond to visual stimuli in depth and are disconjunctive eye movements, in athletes is still uncertain. The existing methods and the ability of vergence eye movements could be independent of each other. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to reveal the differences between visual functions in baseball players and non-athletes using kinetic visual acuity, depth perception and vergence eye movements. The results showed that there was no difference in kinetic visual acuity and depth perception between baseball players and non-athletes. However, our results also showed that the latency and initial acceleration of vergence eye movements in baseball players were superior to those in non-athletes. Therefore, it is suggested that performance supported by the superior visual function in baseball players is associated with the properties of vergence eye movements.