In the history of about 100 years of anthropology in Japan, studies of physiological anthro-pology have made very important contributions from the standpoint of physiological function of mankind. The activity of physiological anthropology in Japan has started systematically November 1978 when the study group was organized under Prof. Keiichi Yoshida as the president and the first meeting was held in Februry 1979. The study group has developed to Research Society of Physiological Anthropology (Presi-dent Prof. Keiichi Yosida, October 1982) and then reorganized as Society of Physiological Anthropology (President Prof. Masaro Kaji, Kurume University School of Medicine, April 1987). An increase of members of the Society from 122 in 1982 to 570 in 1991 suggests the prosperity of the study in this field. The Society has two meetings every year since 1979 and the 27th meeting was held last October. The Annals of Physiological Anthropology is published quartery (will be published bimonth-ly from 1992) since 1983 and abotit 300 papers including 116 original articles have been reported. The Annals covers the following fields ; Clothing and thermal physiology, Living in normal and abnormal environ-ment, Nutrition and morphology, Sports physiology and medicine, Work physiology, Ergonomics, General physiology and others. In recent progress of science, study in physiological anthropology must respond to various environments in every field of living. The future of physiological anthropology was discussed in the situation of rapidly changing patterns of human life in Japan

View full abstract

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the mental workload of short-term memory task by two objective measures, the secondary task performance and the frontal midline theta rhythm (Fme) of the electroencephalogram (EEG). First, to choose Fme appearance subjects EEGS were recorded for 18 male students during performing additional task. On Fme appearanee subjects (8 males) a series of short-term memory task with changed number of memorable figures was imposed as the primary task, and tracking task as the secondary task. The task that presents seven numbers will be over the subjects' Iimits of short-term memory, and it was the threshold that the subjects' mental workload will be increased

View full abstract

Eight male Japanese Brazilians (20-32 yrs) and 11 male Japanese (22-24 yrs) volunteered for this study. The Brazilians had been staying for about 2-21 weeks in Japan. Their physical characteristics are not significantly different from those of the Japanese. Each one of them sat on a chair for 45 min at 40°C (R.H. 50%) in a climatic chamber. Then, they exercised using a bicycle ergometer in a semi-reclining position for 45 min at 40% of maximal oxygen uptake. Forearm blood flow (FBF), oxygen uptake (VO₂), heart rate (HR), skin temperature (Tsk), sweat rate (SR) at chest region and body weight loss (AWt) were measured. Thermal sensation and thermal comfort were also measured. Thermal and comfort sensatlon confirmed that Japanese Brazilians felt cooler and more comfortable in 40°C environment than the Japanese. VO₂, SR and AWt for both groups were not significantly different. FBF and HR for Brazilians were significantly lower than those for Japanese. Tsk at chest region for Brazilians was found to be significantly higher than that for Japanese. Thus the thermoregulatory responses observed in Japanese Brazilians may be largely attributed to the climate in their native places located on the Tropic of Capricorn

View full abstract