Sports and your Brain

Goggles were worn and screens were surrounding the varsity sports stars and the academic stars as people were tested. The test was to try and cross a road without getting hit by a 40mph car. The cars weren't actually real considering they would lose many of their testers. But they were virtual. Why would people want to test who could get across a road without injuries between the two groups you may ask? It all started at a the University of Illinois.

36 male and female students between the ages 18-22 were recruited the test. For the study,half were varsity athletes at the university,some of them possessed amazing endurance. Others, strength and power, and some precision and grace. The other half of the students were very healthy college students, but they were not athletes. They all wore goggles and were put in a room with 10 foot square video screens. The screens were surrounding them, and they had to try and cross a road with virtual cars going at speeds of 40-55 mph. When the students felt safe, the students were to cross the road. They were told to walk, and they had a limit of 30 seconds to try and get across. Each volunteer had 96 attempts; there was much success, but also many failures. There was a 85% completion rate where students made it to the other side without an accident. The athletes were more successful than the non athletes by a huge margin. All the students walked the same pace, but the athletes thought quicker than the non athletes. In conclusion, the athletes had a quicker mind when it came to reaction, because you need to think fast in order to win games.