The development of learning support program for throwing by auditory kinesthetic feedbacks

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K17888
• 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: Kobayashi Hirofumi 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 特任研究員 (50782778)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 投動作 / 筋活動 / 学習プログラム / 神経筋制御 / 聴覚フィードバック

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aim of this study was to investigate a neural mechanism underlying throwing effort and accuracy in baseball pitching by pursing the development of a learning program for throwing which made auditory kinesthetic feedback. A research on the characteristics of skilled pitchers with high pitching accuracy revealed that their muscle activities in the trunk and lower extremity had high repeatability while those in their pitching arm varied widely, finding that those pitchers with high pithing accuracy employed a different control strategy by body part.
It was also found that a muscle activity pattern was different between high-intensity pitching and middle-intensity pitching and that the characteristics of muscle activities varied depending on the level of throwing effort. Based on these study outcomes, the development of the learning program will be pursued from now on.

Free Research Field

運動制御

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

投動作の正確性を高める要因として再現性を高めること、そしてバラつくことで誤差修正を行うことがこれまでの研究で明らかにされていたが、これらはダーツや下手投げといった投球腕のみを対象とした報告だった。本研究では全身を使う野球の投動作を対象に検証を行った結果、身体部位によって安定性を高めるのか誤差修正を行うのかについて一部明らかにすることができ、投動作の正確性を検証する上で学術的に重要な知見が得られた。また、子供たちの投能力が低下傾向にあり、ボールを投げることが苦手だったり嫌いになってしまっている子供たちに対して効果的な学習支援プログラムの開発に繋がる点で社会的意義もあると言える。