瞬目にみる剣道経験者における注意集中の特徴

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristic of attention concentration in kendo practitioners in comparison with non-kendo practitioners. The participants were 18 university students who were active members of a kendo team (Kendo Group) and 18 who were active members of either a kyudo team or an archery team (Non-Kendo Group). For the experiment, a Go-NoGo task was used as a stimulus discrimination test. Eyeblink and response times were measured in a preliminary stimulation (S1) at between −1000—4000 ms, and we studied the relationship of response time and eyeblinking with stimulus and completion ability determined by the win percentage or accuracy rate. Time distributions in the analysis study were designated as 0—1000 ms after S1 as Interval A, and 0—1000 ms and 1000—2000 ms after the discriminative stimulus (S2) as Intervals B and C respectively. The occurrence of the initial eyeblink was studied in each interval. Among the 260 total trials, the ratio, calculated as the number of eyeblinks that initially occurred at Interval A divided by 260, was designated the “Forewarning eyeblink ratio.” Likewise, the ratio of initial eyeblinks that occurred in Interval B was designated the “Early occurrence ratio (%)”. The ratio of initial eyeblinks that occurred not in interval B, but in interval C, was designated the “Late occurrence ratio (%).” Although there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of “Forewarning eyeblink ratio” and “Early occurrence ratio”, the “Early occurrence ratio” was significantly higher for NoGo tasks than for Go tasks. The “Late occurrence ratio” was significantly higher in the Kendo Group than in the Non-Kendo group. Also, ratios for Go tasks were significantly higher than for NoGo tasks in the Kendo Group. A significant relationship was found between competitive ability and the “Late occurrence ratio” in the Kendo Group that was not evident in the Non-Kendo group. With regard to the influence of eyeblink on competitive ability in the Kendo Group, covariance structure analysis of common latent variables such as Zanshin, which exist in the background of Go and NoGo tasks associated with the “Late occurrence ratio”, revealed a significant relationship to “Competitive ability”. The above results indicating the continuation of eyeblink restraint after the task response in the Kendo Group appear to reflect the training method known as Zanshin, which involves continuously striving to grasp the opponent's intended movement after striking. Thus, the characteristic attention concentration of kendo practitioners known as Zanshin was reflected in the eyeblink data.