2005 年 4 巻 1 号 p. 19-25
We investigated the effect of sports experience on shortening of the saccadic reaction time associated with the activity of neck extensor muscles. Saccadic reaction time was measured in the 20°neck flexion position（neck flexion）and under 30% muscle contraction of the shoulder girdle elevators（30% contraction）in three groups. These included an untrained group that has never belonged to any sports club（UT group）, a group that has belonged to high-speed ball sports clubs（HS group）, and a group with experience in other sports（OS group）. In terms of neck flexion, significant shortening of the reaction time was observed for both the HS and OS groups. On the other hand, no significant shortening was observed for the UT group. In the 30% contraction, there was significant shortening of the reaction time for the HS group, while no significant shortening was observed for the OS and UT groups. Conversely, the reaction time of the UT group in the 30% contraction was significantly longer than that in the resting neck position. The shortening of the saccadic reaction time associated with the activity of neck extensors was observed for the subjects with sports experience, particularly for the subjects with experience pursuing a high-speed ball. The group difference in the shortening of the reaction time was markedly larger in the muscle contraction of the shoulder girdle elevators than in the neck flexion.
