Lateral dominance and cognitive–motor performance in elite athletes: a virtual reality study

Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly employed in sports science as it enables ecological and standardized assessments of cognitive-motor skills in immersive, controllable environments. This study examined the influence of lateral dominance on response time (RT) in elite athletes from two situational sports: volleyball (predominantly symmetrical motor demands) and fencing (asymmetrical motor demands). A secondary objective was to explore the relationship between dynamic visual attention and RT. Eighty-five elite athletes (41 volleyball players, 44 fencers) completed VR-based assessments of RT and dynamic visual attention. A mixed-design ANOVA showed significantly faster RT with the dominant hand across both groups (Volleyball: dominant 467.4 ± 60.1 ms vs non-dominant 485.2 ± 68.5 ms, p < 0.001; Fencing: dominant 462.4 ± 47.4 ms vs non-dominant 481.3 ± 65.1 ms, p < 0.001). No significant interaction between sport type and dominance was found (p = 0.851). To examine whether sex influenced lateral dominance (males: n = 44, females: n = 41), we compared the Δ% in RT between the non-dominant and dominant hand. No significant differences were observed between males and females (males: 3.91 ± 6.93%; females: 3.38 ± 4.64%; p = 0.718). Pearson correlations revealed a significant inverse association between attentional index and RT (volleyball: r = -0.460, p = 0.006; fencing: r = -0.418, p = 0.007), indicating that greater attentional capacity relates to shorter RT. These findings suggest that dominance effects persist in elite athletes regardless of sport-specific motor symmetry, and that attentional abilities contribute meaningfully to visuo-motor responsiveness.