抄録
The purpose of this study was to investigate, in an experimental setting, the relation between the skill level and the sensitivity involved in movement observation. We selected a ball-throwing task since there is a significant difference in the required skill level for the movement involved in the task among individuals even though such a movement is ordinarily seen in various sports. In experiment 1, 40 participants attempted to throw a ball and were divided into 2 groups on the basis of the temporal phase difference between the elbow and wrist joints during the task of throwing the ball. Group A; skilled: An increase in the joint angular velocity for extension at the elbow is observed earlier than that in the wrist. Group B; unskilled: The relation of Group A is reversed. In experiment 2, a movie comprising 15 sets of stick pictures was created by systematic manipulation of the temporal phase difference on the basis of a skilled thrower's movement referred to as the model, and 20 participants in the 2 groups observed the stick picture movie starring the model and the created movie; the set number at which they detected the differences in their movements was recorded. As a result, Group A participants detected it significantly earlier than Group B participants (p<0.001). This result indicates that the sensitivity in the movement observation of high-skilled participants is significantly higher than that in low-skilled participants.
