2009 年 8 巻 1 号 p. 17-26
We investigated the effect of brain activation with maintenance of neck flexion on the training-related changes in anti-saccade performance and related frontal function. Subjects were 29 young adults who exhibited no significant shortening of anti-saccade reaction time by maintaining neck flexion posture. They were assigned to three groups: training group in a 20° neck flexion position (n = 10), training group in a neck rest position (n = 9), and untrained group (n = 10). Using visual stimuli that were alternately illuminated between a central fixation point and one of 4 lateral targets for a random duration of 1-3 s, anti-saccade training for 30 s was performed 20 times per day. The training was carried out 3-5 days a week for 3 weeks. Before and after the training period, horizontal eye movements, oxy-Hb concentration in the prefrontal cortex, and presaccadic negativity at Cz in anti-saccade tasks were measured in the neck resting and 20° neck flexion positions. Anti-saccade training shortened reaction time and decreased error rate, but these parameters showed no specific effect of incorporating maintenance of neck flexion into training. However, oxy-Hb concentration and presaccadic negativity were changed by the anti-saccade training with maintenance of neck flexion.
