Wellness Darts as a Cognitive Exercise - Comprehensive Approaches for an Improvement of Cognitive Functions

• Project/Area Number: 17K01652
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Developmental mechanisms and the body works
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: TAKEDA Masaki 同志社大学, スポーツ健康科学部, 教授 (00278459)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 廣安 知之 同志社大学, 生命医科学部, 教授 (20298144)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,990,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥690,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
• Keywords: 認知機能 / ダーツ / 高齢者 / ウェルネスダーツ / ワーキングメモリ / fNIRS / モーションアーチファクト

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Darts training were prescribed for 6 months (1 team / week + self-training at home) for 31 healthy elderly people (9 men, 22 women, 73.6 ± 3.4 years old). Four evaluation items for cognitive function were provided: subtraction test, working memory test, PEG test, and WCST (cognitive flexibility test). As a result of two-factor analysis of variance, no interaction was found in the subtraction test, PEG test, and WCST, but a significant interaction was found in the working memory test.
We have tried to measure the cerebral blood flow in darts, but we found that the influence of motion artifacts was great, and we examined 5 methods of removing motion artifacts. It turned out that tPCA is highly effective in filtering.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ダーツの縦断的効果として，認知機能の改善を示した報告は見当たらない．本研究は，ダーツでトレーニングすることが，認知機能低下予防に効果を示すという発見（学術的意義）があり，世界の高齢化社会における認知機能低下の防止策としての社会的意義があるものと考えられる．一方，その背景にあるダーツ中の脳の賦活状態を検証することは学術的な意味が大きいと言えるが，残念ながら，測定手法に難しさ（モーションアーチファクトの除去の難しさ）があり，結果を得るには至っていない．この点は方法を変えて更に検討しているところである．

Research Products

• [Presentation] Motion artifacts removal method for fNIRS data to examine brain activity during dart throwing. (2019)
  • Author(s): Yoshida S., Hiwa S., Takeda M., Hiroyasu T.
  • Organizer: 25th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] The effect of dart training on cognitive functions of elderly people (2019)
  • Author(s): Kazuma Fukumoto, Fumiaki Mano, Ryota Hirai, Mitsuki Kasahara, Masaki Takeda
  • Organizer: 23rd Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Motion artifacts removal method for measuring fNIRS data to examine brain activity during dart throwing (2019)
  • Author(s): Saori Yoshida, Satoru Hiwa, Masaki Takeda, and Tomoyuki Hiroyasu
  • Organizer: The Organization for Human Brain Mapping 2019
• [Presentation] ダーツトレーニングが高齢者の認知機能に及ぼす影響. (2018)
  • Author(s): 竹田正樹,福本一真、前田香純、林美佐、前川雄馬、米原健太郎、ラダック・ジョート.
  • Organizer: 第73回日本体力医学会
• [Presentation] ダーツトレーニングが高齢者の認知機能に及ぼす影響. (2018)
  • Author(s): 福本一真、熊谷愛音、大東未来、中塚里奈、竹田正樹,ラダック・ジョート.
  • Organizer: 第73回日本体力医学会