Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between balance performance and behavior regulation. Two types of balance performance were investigated: dynamic balance, which was evaluated by a beam-walking task, and static balance, which was measured by a one-foot balance task (eyes open). We evaluated behavior regulation by three motor impersistence tasks (Motor Impersistence Test, or MIT: Garfield, 1964). The relation between performance on the MIT and each balance task was examined in 129 persons with mental retardation. The poorer the behavior regulation performance was, the poorer was the static balance performance. The relation between performance on the behavior regulation test and dynamic balance was, however, not clear in comparison with the relation between the former and static balance. We also found that a physical setting that required people to figure out how to maintain their posture using external cues intuitively, worked effectively to improve the static balance of those persons with mental retardation who had showed a poorer level of behavior regulation. In that setting, we used a one-foot balance task with a platform (width 10cm, length 30cm, height 5cm) on which the subject could put only one supporting foot. Participants in this part of the study were 92 persons with mental retardation.
