Abstract
[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to analyze the learning effects of whole-task and part-task practices of walking with prism glasses. [Subjects and Methods] Twenty healthy persons (12 men and 8 women) participated in this study. They wore prism glasses causing right-left reversal of the visual field, and were asked to walk 5 m, turn around, and walk back 5 m to the starting point at their preferred speed. They performed the walking task once under each of three conditions: one whole-task and two part-task practices. Walk time, number of course corrections, steps, gait cycle time, muscle activities of the right tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscle, and trunk and ankle angles were measured during the walking tasks. [Results] The indices of walking performance and muscles activities in the lower limb showed no significant differences among the whole-task and part-task practices. However, walking time after whole-task practice was shorter than that of the part-tasks. [Conclusion] No significant changes in walking performance with prism glasses was observed after both whole-task and part-task practices.
