Professional athletic sports require elite athletes to function at the very limit of their abilities. After all, their competition consists entirely of other elite athletes trying to do just that. In this environment of fast-paced action and reaction, the difference between a hit or miss, catch or drop, goal or block, win or loss—milliseconds matter.

Researchers from institutions across Europe and the United States have demonstrated that light-based manipulation of visual processing can significantly enhance visual and visuomotor skills in professional soccer players. The six-week intervention focused on the effects of training under reduced light conditions using the Okkulo system, a novel technology designed to slow down visual processing speed.

Visual and visuomotor abilities are critical in sports, requiring rapid decision-making and accurate physical interactions in coordination with moving objects and other players. Previous research has shown athletes outperform non-athletes in these abilities.

The Okkulo system leverages the natural adaptation of the human visual system to reduced light, slowing photoreceptor processing speed during training to improve response times when players return to normal lighting. This approach acts as a form of visual resistance training, similar to how runners use sprint parachutes to enhance physical speed.

In the study, “Light-based manipulation of visual processing speed during soccer-specific training has a positive impact on visual and visuomotor abilities in professional soccer players,” published in Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, researchers conducted Okkulo system reduced light training with professional athletes.

A total of 24 players, aged 18 to 30, were randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group trained twice weekly under Okkulo-specific lighting conditions, which included varying wavelengths (blue, green, red, and ultraviolet-like light) designed to slow visual processing.

The control group performed the same soccer-specific drills under normal lighting. Visual and visuomotor abilities were assessed using the COI-Sport Vision software before and after the intervention.

A range of visual assessments were used, with significant improvements observed in the intervention group compared to controls.

Dynamic visual acuity (measuring the ability to identify moving targets) showed an 8.4% improvement.

Recognition time (assessing the speed of distinguishing specific stimuli among distractors) improved by 46.1%, from 70.9 ms down to 38.2 ms.

Sensory reaction time (evaluating response times to stimuli) decreased by 17.2%, from 439.7 ms to 364.1 ms.

Motor reaction time dropped 30.7%, from 255.8 ms to 177.3 ms.

Peripheral identification (accuracy and speed in detecting peripheral targets) increased by 10.9%.

Stereopsis and anticipation (evaluating depth perception and object trajectory prediction) both showed numerical improvement but did not reach the threshold of statistical significance.

These findings indicate that training under Okkulo’s reduced-light conditions enhances key visual and visuomotor skills relevant to athletic performance. It may be too soon to dim the stadium lights before practice, but integrating light-based visual training into the routines of elite athletes might give the player or team that tries it a few extra milliseconds to see the benefits.

© 2024 Science X Network