Characteristics of superior visuomotor control function in ballgame athletes and its development

• Project/Area Number: 18K17889
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 59030:Physical education, and physical and health education-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Ijiri Tetsuya 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 助教 (10784431)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2020)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥960,000); Fiscal Year 2020: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
• Keywords: 視覚運動制御 / VR / 野球 / 視覚認知 / バーチャルリアリティ / リーチング / 腕到達運動 / オンラインコントロール / Automatic pilot / スポーツ / MRI / autopilot

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research was to investigate the characteristics of superior visuomotor control in ball game sports such as baseball. We examined three stages of visual tasks: a controlled laboratory task, performance in an actual sport environment, and a visual task in virtual reality (VR). The results showed that experienced ballgame players showed an adaptation to the short latency corrective motor response called "automatic pilot". In addition, a visual experiment using VR was conducted with baseball players, and it was shown that the ability to discriminate the pitch type in the VR task was improved, but it could not be shown whether this improvement in ability improved actual hitting ability.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

野球の打撃に代表されるような、極めて短い時間で遂行される運動において、正確にかつ素早く視覚情報を処理する能力、また、それらを運動に活かす能力は、競技能力の向上に極めて重要であると考えられる。しかし、球技アスリートの視覚認知能力を評価・訓練するための知見は極めて少なく、またその視覚認知機能を下支えする機序も明らかにされていない点が多い。
VR技術を用いて球技アスリートの視覚認知機能を評価した本研究の結果は、今後球技アスリートの視覚認知機能を評価・訓練するための重要な知見となる可能性があると考える。

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Precise force controls enhance loudness discrimination of self-generated sound (2021)
  • Author(s): Endo Nozomi、Ito Takayuki、Mochida Takemi、Ijiri Tetsuya、Watanabe Katsumi、Nakazawa Kimitaka
  • Journal Title: Experimental Brain Research Volume: 239 Issue: 4 Pages: 1141-1149
  • DOI: 10.1007/s00221-020-05993-7
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Effort-dependent effects on uniform and diverse muscle activity features in skilled pitching (2021)
  • Author(s): Hashimoto T, Takiyama K, Miki T, Kobayashi H, Nasu D, Ijiri T, Kuwata M, Kashino M, Nakazawa K
  • Journal Title: Scientific Reports Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-14
  • DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-87614-z
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Cross-sectional comparison of the probabilistic structure in the distribution of pitching location among baseball pitchers of different ages (2020)
  • Author(s): Ogawa Tetsuya、Kobayashi Hirofumi、Kuwata Masumi、Obata Hiroki、Shinya Masahiro、Ijiri Tetsuya、Miki Takeshi、Nakazawa Kimitaka
  • Journal Title: Sports Biomechanics Volume: - Issue: 1 Pages: 1-14
  • DOI: 10.1080/14763141.2020.1822908
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Effort-dependent emergence of uniform and diverse muscle activity features in skilled pitching (2020)
  • Author(s): Hashimoto Tsubasa、Takiyama Ken、Miki Takeshi、Kobayashi Hirofumi、Nasu Daiki、Ijiri Tetsuya、Kuwata Masumi、Kashino Makio、Nakazawa Kimitaka
  • Journal Title: Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Japanese Neural Network Society Volume: 30 Pages: 56-58
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] 球技アスリートにおける視覚運動制御の特徴 (2020)
  • Author(s): 井尻哲也
  • Journal Title: 体育の科学 Volume: 70 Pages: 789-793
• [Presentation] Increased gain in implicit online correction of a reaching movement in ball game athletes (2018)
  • Author(s): Tetsuya Ijiri, Hirofumi Kobayashi, Kimitaka Nakazawa
  • Organizer: Society for Neuroscience 2018
  • Int'l Joint Research