BACKGROUND It has been stated that long-term participation in sport training can influence the motor asymmetry of the arms with a decreased interlimb difference. However, whether this pattern is observable in different sports and with different variables, like perceptual performance, still needs to be tested. Therefore, we investigated if long-term sports participation might modify the motor and perceptual performance asymmetries of arms in water polo players. It was hypothesized that water polo players would perform with less interlimb asymmetry in comparison to nonathletes. METHODS Right-handed water polo players and nonathletes were tested on motor performance for both arms during a reaching task. Thirteen water polo players and thirteen nonathletes performed reaching movements under two experimental conditions: (a) right arm and (b) left arm. Velocity, accuracy, hand path deviation from linearity, and reaction time were calculated for each trial and for both arms. The potential interlimb differences in movement performance could be assessed by testing. RESULTS Consistent with the hypothesis, our findings showed that water polo players displayed substantially less asymmetry in the performance of accuracy and reaction time. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that performance asymmetries of arms can be altered via intense long-term practice.

中文翻译：

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提高精英水球运动员手臂的感知和运动性能。

背景已经指出，长期参与运动训练可以影响手臂的运动不对称性，并减少肢体间差异。然而，这种模式在不同的运动和不同的变量中是否可以观察到，比如感知表现，仍然需要测试。因此，我们调查了长期运动参与是否会改变水球运动员手臂的运动和知觉表现不对称。据推测，与非运动员相比，水球运动员的肢体间不对称性更少。方法 右手水球运动员和非运动员在伸手任务期间对双臂的运动性能进行测试。十三名水球运动员和十三名非运动员在两种实验条件下进行了伸展运动：（a）右臂和（b）左臂。计算每个试验和双臂的速度、准确性、手路径与线性的偏差和反应时间。运动表现中潜在的肢体间差异可以通过测试来评估。结果与假设一致，我们的研究结果表明，水球运动员在准确性和反应时间方面表现出的不对称性大大减少。结论 这些研究结果表明，手臂的性能不对称可以通过长期的高强度练习来改变。我们的研究结果表明，水球运动员在准确性和反应时间方面表现出的不对称性要小得多。结论 这些研究结果表明，手臂的性能不对称可以通过长期的高强度练习来改变。我们的研究结果表明，水球运动员在准确性和反应时间方面表现出的不对称性要小得多。结论 这些研究结果表明，手臂的性能不对称可以通过长期的高强度练习来改变。