プレッシャーが全身協応運動に及ぼす影響

抄録

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of whole-body movement under pressure. The study participants, who were right-handed male university students (N=16), performed "tomeken ," which is a bilboquet technique, for 300 acquisition trials followed by 15 test trials. In the test, a small audience observed participants who had been informed that they could receive a performance-contingent money reward. The results showed that, in this study, a modest level of psychological stress was induced, as the average of the state anxiety scores increased (p <.001), whereas the average of the heart rates did not. Although the performance of "tomeken " improved during acquisition (p <.05), it was not hindered in the test. A two-dimensional analysis of the movement revealed that some measures reflecting variability of elbow and knee movements decreased from the last phase of acquisition to the test. In addition, a difference between the timing of knee flexion and the timing of elbow extension in the ball-catching phase decreased (p <.05). No change was found for the electromyography activities of upper-arm muscles. These results suggested that a modest level of psychological stress, which did not lead to change in performance, could modify the movement variability and timing coordination of upper and lower limbs in whole-body movement.