A new balance training method with game factors was devised for enhancing motivation toward the rehabilitation training. “Block break” game, one of the popular TV games, was adopted; blocks are broken by the ball hit back with racket and game score is calculated according to the number of broken blocks. The device consists of force plates, display unit and micro-computer. A trainee stands or sits using chair on the force plates. A racket moves horizontally on the display in proportion to the output of the force plates. He controls the racket position to hit back a ball and break blocks, shifting his body laterally or anteroposteriorly. The disabled, enjoying the game, try hard for higher game score in the training and obtain postural balance and reflex movement. It is expected that there is enough effect of physical side in this training method. Psycological effect by adding game factors was confirmed by Semantic Differential method.

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The body reaction time of mental retardates was investigated with respect to the effects of aging and intellectial ability. The subjects ranging in age from 6 to 49 years and in the intellectual qoutient (IQ) from 14 to 115, tried to jump vertically responding to the flashing light. The body reaction time was measured from the mechanogram and divided into the following two components: the time from the onset of stimulation to the beginning of the knee extension (the premotor time), and the time from the beginning of the knee extension to the onset of toe-off from the foot plate (the motor time).
The mean body reaction time and the two components of the retarded subjects were greater than the norm in non-retarded population. The distribution of reaction times by age showed a progressive decrease in incidence of the slower body reaction time or the slower premotor time with increasing age. Any age-related changing of the motor time were not observed. In the adult subjects, there was positive relationship between the body reaction time or the premotor time and IQ score. The motor time was not consistently related to IQ. It was found that the shortest reaction time of retardates in any age or with any grade of IQ was on level with the norm in non-retarded population.

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The concern of this paper is an application of JDLC (Job Design for Life Cycle) which was developed by one of the present researchers Forty-eight jobs in a most computerized steel making plant are surveyed in 71 items of JDLC, and 209 workers are estimated in terms of physiological and psychological measurement. After calculating those data through the multivariate analysis, our results show that JDLC technique is able also to apply for the relatively computerized jobs for allocation of job according to worker's age.

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This paper is an ergonomic study to obtain a safety standard of industrial robot. Three experiments are executed. Exp. I is concerned with a psychological estimation of possibility of work rearrangement with several arm speeds, Exp. II with an evaluation of parts picking-up behavior in the situation of five arm waiting conditions, and finally Exp. III with an estimated safety distance from moving arm. The experimental results show the possibility of unsafe behavior of worker using industrial robot and suggest an implementation of safeguard.

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This study was conducted to evaluate driver's mental burden relative to the vehicle's response phase lag, an important parameter of its steering response characteristics. The mental burden evaluation was carried out based on the skin resistance level [SRL], skin resistance reflex [SRR] and heart rate [HR] according to responses the selected drivers presented while performing steering controls. The series of tests were by an experimental vehicle with variable steering response characteristics and a steering simulator. And specified conditions depended on types of desired values to be achieved and mental state of drivers during control efforts.
The findings indicate that a shorter lag in the vehicle's response phase helps to reduce driver's mental burden. However, a reverse tendency appears when vehicle phase lag becomes smaller than a certain level. It was also found that there is a fairly close interrelationship among the control performances of a driver-vehicle system, and driver's subjective ratings.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the present teaching conditions of ergonomics in Japan, the research contents by the researchers concerned in the teaching, and so on. It was found that ergonomics in Japan had been remarkably popularized since 1965 and that it had been much popularized in its education since 1967, too. But some of the researchers, especially psychologists already started to research Ergonomics before 1959.
In its education, many faculties of engineering, especially departments of industrial management, were concerned in ergonomics. Many of the leaders were engineers, too.

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