Hand and body movements promote language acquisition.

• Project/Area Number: 15K12880
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Seijo University
• Principal Investigator: Kubota Mikio 成城大学, 文芸学部, 教授 (60259182)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 篠塚 勝正 順天堂大学, スポーツ健康科学部, 非常勤講師 (40528775)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,510,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥810,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000)
• Keywords: 運動機能 / 記憶 / エピソード記憶 / 言語習得 / 非単語 / 記憶固定 / BDNF / 裸足

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Based on the assumption that exercises may promote cognitive memory , the present investigator studies the effect of physical exercises on foreign language memory. The groups were divided into exercise and non-exercise groups with the tasks of mechanical and episodic memory. In exercise groups, the word memory size increased with respect to episodic memory. Next project had 3 groups walking on a 7-cm wide beam (walking with shoes on, barefoot, tiptoe barefoot). Barefoot walking outperformed the other methods. The third project aimed to examine optimal timing of exercises after learning, with 3 groups of exercises 30 minutes, 2 hours, or 4 hours after learning. Exercises 2 hours later had largest effects on language memory. A replication study was performed with four 20-minute aerobiking groups (1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, or 4 hours after learning), resulting in the same results.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

(1)外国語学習は、step運動やsquat運動という有酸素運動によって、意味や文脈のある関連情報が組み込ませている内容を記憶するのに極めて有効である。(2) 裸足で梁の上での歩行が、注意力とバランス調整機能の向上によって、無意味語の意味把握であっても学習効果があることが明らかになった。(3) 海馬にある脳由来神経栄養因子が運動によって増加するため、運動後2時間後に学習を行うのが文の内容を覚える学習で効果があった。「体で言語を身につける」というHarold E. PalmerやJames J. Asherの教授法の原点に戻る外国語指導の重要性を明らかにした。