In the present study several experiments of walking bias were performed in order to investigate the fundamental nature of ring-wandering and to examine the relationships between various physical dominant factors and the direction of walking bias. Subjects were 20 to 29 male and female college students, 18 to 21 years in age. The conclusions of the present study were summarized as follows : 1) The repeatability of one's direction of bias was rather high if the experimental conditions were the same for all walkings. 2) Assuming that 5 m from the center line is the limit of acceptable deviation, the distance one can keep correct direction to the target while blinbfolded would be roughly 40 m. 3) The relationships between walking speed and amount of walking bias were as follows : for the whole group, the subjects who walked unconsciously with high speed showed relatively smaller bias; and with respect to an individual subject when he walked with consciously high speed, he tended to register smaller walking bias than he had registered previously in walking unconsciously. 4) There were no significant relationships between one's direction of walking bias and his various physical dominant factors.

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The test for measuring anaerobic power (PO) developed by Margaria et al. (the M test) has been widely accepted. However, Kalamen reported that higher PO values were obtained when individuals ran up an ordinary staircase three steps at a time with a 6-m running approach (the M-K test). We evaluated the effects of various running approach distances on PO measured during stair running-up. Ten male (20.7±1.0 yr) and 10 female (18.9±1.4 yr) track and field athletes served as subjects. The subjects stood 0-10 meters (11 kinds) in front of a staircase, and ran up 15 stairs as rapidly as possible, taking three at a time. The highest individual PO was observed when the subjects stood more than 5 meters in front of a staircase. It is likely that PO is largely affected by the velocity of running approach. However, PO values did not differ significantly from one another when measured by an approach distance of 6-10 meters. The PO max on the M-K test was on the average 37.1% (30.3 kgm/s, P<0.001) higher than PO measured on the M test. Significant differences in PO values between the M test and the M-K test were also noted for athletes other than the present subjects. It is concluded that, when running-up exercise is applied, POmax could be measured on the M-K test and that running approach distance should be 6 meters or more.

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