Objective: 

The main aim of this study was to investigate auditory cognitive responses of professional dancers and sportsmen.

Methods: 

Ten healthy and right-handed professional dancers and 10 sportsmen participated in this study (5 female, 5 male). Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded from 19 sites with MITSAR. Since, the P300 component of the ERPs (Event Related Potentials) can be used to identify cognitive functions, Auditory Oddball Paradigm (AERPs; P300 Paradigm) applied to dancers and sportsmen. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS-PC 16.0.

Results: 

In AERPs paradigm, P300 responses of professional dancers had larger amplitude than of sportsmen especially for the Fz, F4 and C4 locations. The P300 responses of the sportsmen had larger amplitude than of dancers for the F3, C3, Cz, P3, Pz, P4, O1 and O2 locations. The Channel effect was significantly different between dancers and sportsmen [F(18,198)=33,32; p<0.0001]. There was no significant difference for the latency of P300 responses between the groups.

Conclusions: 

The cognitive responses of the dancers were higher in sportsmen for the anterior-right locations. On the other hand, the cognitive responses of sportsmen were higher in dancers for the anterior-left and posterior locations of brain. The present study demonstrates the electrophysiological differences of the auditory cognitive functions between dancers and sportsmen.