2000 Volume 23 Issue 1 Pages 77-84
The purpose of this study is to make clear the influence of exercise in physical education classes on the mental function and activity in the next class. The method was as follows. The exercise-induced cerebral activation, which was estimated from the performance of simple calculation (adding), was used as the index for the research. Groups of subjects were given a physical exercise class, the degrees of the intensity of which were controlled for each group in advance. Then, the effect of the physical education class was analyzed in terms of the relationship between the exercise intensity and the levels of exercise-induced cerebral activation. (1) The relation between the intensity of physical exercise and the level of exercise-induced cerebral activation took the form of an inverted U shaped curve. The level of exercise-induced cerebral activation was highest when children's belief about for the intensity of physical exercise was at level III (feeling neither not hard nor comfortable). (2) In the class after the physical education at level III, children reported being were most keen and able to concentrate most on learning. So it is considered that the physical education at level III has a good effect on the next class. (3) The relation between the intensity of physical education and the level of exercise-induced cerebral activation varied according to the student's academic record. As the academic record became worse, the level of exercise-induced cerebral activation and the willingness to learn were apt to be influenced more easily. (4) The amount of physical exercise, the level of physical fitness and the academic record were regard as factors which influenced the relation between the intensity of physical exercise and the level of exercise-induced cerebral activation.
