CSE Integrates the UTC Eriksen Flanker Test Into Metrics-Based Youth Athlete Evaluations
CSE integrates the utc eriksen flanker test into metrics-based youth athlete evaluations
College Sports Evaluation (CSE) is strengthening its ability to develop and educate athletes navigating the intercollegiate recruitment process by expanding their partnership with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). Beginning this spring, CSE will be utilizing the Eriksen Flanker test as a metric to analyze athletes’ detection, reaction, and response to environmental changes.
High school-aged softball and baseball players can now register for a Full CSE, Hitting Only CSE, or Defensive Only CSE, and receive feedback on their cognitive processing and reaction times.
Using the Flanker Test App, CSE participants will complete the test on a mobile device. A series of images will prompt the user to tilt the phone left or right while testing cognitive processing through reaction times and accuracy.
“Our department of Health and Human Performance is thrilled to further collaborate with CSE,” said Gary Wilkerson, Professor at UTC. “The Flanker Test provides CSE with a well-validated means to assess an athlete’s brain processing efficiency, which is a key factor enabling high-level sport performance.”
Efforts to develop and code the Flanker Test App have been propelled by a partnership with Center for Urban Informatics & Progress (CUIP) – a smart city and urbanization research center at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.
“Collaborations between us at the Center for Urban Informatics and Progress, Dr. Wilkerson’s team at the department of Health and Human Performance, and College Sports Evaluation are important for pushing our respective fields further,” said Dr. Mina Sartipi, Founding Director of CUIP. “Our students gain valuable, real-world experience, and their work contributes to work that positively affects lives.”
Following the CSE, every participant will receive an individualized CSE Report. A section dedicated to their Flanker Test performance will reveal their results including average response time, accuracy percentage, and overall efficiency (the relationship between the time spent versus percent of correction reactions).
“With the addition of the Flanker Test, we can truly measure the whole athlete,” said Maureen Kirchner, Director of Data & Analytics at College Sports Evaluation. “We, at CSE, believe the neuromechanical features of the Flanker Test directly relate to an athlete’s ability to physically react on the field responding to the movement of the ball and efficiently adjust accordingly. And, not only do we think the Flanker Test will be telling from a defensive perspective, but we also believe it will help us predict offensive success, as reaction time and accuracy is critical in pitch selection.”
Take the Flanker Test at one of our upcoming CSE’s!
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