Biomedical subjects

Haruo Sakuma

Publications and source records attributed to Haruo Sakuma.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

A field study of step-up exercises with touch for elderly people.

This study assessed step-up exercises appropriate for elderly persons (M age=70.7 yr., SD=7.0). The group did several exercises in 7 sessions per month (average participants per session was 14, SD=3). A 30-sec. chair-stand test (sit-to-stand), questionnaires on activities of daily living, and impressions of the exercises were examined. Activities of daily living were expected to differ on cluster analysis before and after exercise sessions. Each cluster was classified by basic and instrumental activities. The 30-sec. chair-stand test did not significantly improve. Subjects enjoyed doing exercises with touch. Appropriate exercises for elderly persons should promote activities of daily living. Functional movements with touch seem appropriate for maintaining physical fitness and social interaction.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2004

Effect of slow movement execution on cognitive function.

We investigated the effect of slow paced movement on cognitive function. The task movement was a dual-task performance composed of a continuous forearm rotation for the right hand and a simple reaction task for the left hand. Exp. 1 was designed to compare reaction time during performance at a slow pace to that at medium pace by 14 female undergraduate students. The mean reaction time for the left hand under the Slow Pace was significantly longer than that under the Middle Pace condition (p < .05), which showed that the subjects were required to give more attention to right-hand performance at the slow pace as it was difficult. Exp. 2 examined changes in reaction time when using the left hand that were associated with the learning of a slow paced task while using the right hand. Twenty-three female undergraduate students participated and repeated the task 6 times. The 3 sec. prior to and the 3 sec. after each auditory stimulus were used to establish rotation speed and mean coefficients of variation. The mean coefficients of variation, evaluated as within-subject variability, showed a significantly positive correlation with reaction time at Trials 1 and 6 for prestimulus and Trials 5 and 6 for poststimulus. Over successive trials participants continued performing the primary forearm task at a constant slow pace before and after receiving auditory stimuli, and this progress was related to a decrease in reaction time. Further, the sense of concentration evaluated by the subjects poststimulus was significantly higher than that prestimulus (p < .01). Performance at a constant speed, which was much slower than the ordinary or preferred speed of each subject, may have had a strong effect on their ability to remain conscious of movement execution.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Human figure drawing size and body image in preschool children from a self-physique perspective.

To learn about the relationship between size of human figure drawings and the physiques of children, we investigated body image characteristics in childhood by using the Human Figure Drawing test. Height, weight, Kaup Index (a body mass index for children) and Human Figure Drawing traits (vertical height, horizontal width, waist size, surface area of head, surface area of the self-drawing) were measured for drawings of 122 4- to 6-yr.-old children (62 boys, 60 girls). Analysis showed that boys, who are physically larger than girls, produced self-drawings with somewhat larger surface areas. For vertical height of self-drawings of boys, 4-yr.-olds characteristically made taller self-drawings than 5-yr.-olds. While we hypothesized that taller children would make vertically taller self-drawings, we observed a negative relationship between children's physical height and the vertical height of the self-drawings. 4-yr.-old boys showed the most interest in their own physical height, making taller drawings and in doing so gave a clue to an early childhood feature of body image.

Body Image↗

PubMed2002

Slow movement execution in event-related potentials (P300).

We examined whether slow movement execution has an effect on cognitive and information processing by measuring the P300 component. 8 subjects performed a continuous slow forearm rotational movement using 2 task speeds. Slow (a 30-50% decrease from the subject's Preferred speed) and Very Slow (a 60-80% decrease). The mean coefficient of variation for rotation speed under Very Slow was higher than that under Slow, showing that the subjects found it difficult to perform the Very Slow task smoothly. The EEG score of alpha-1 (8-10 Hz) under Slow Condition was increased significantly more than under the Preferred Condition; however, the increase under Very Slow was small when compared with Preferred. After performing the task. P300 latency under Very Slow increased significantly as compared to that at pretask. Further, P300 amplitude decreased tinder both speed conditions when compared to that at pretask, and a significant decrease was seen under the Slow Condition at Fz, whereas the decrease under the Very Slow Condition was small. These differences indicated that a more complicated neural composition and an increase in subjects' attention might have been involved when the task was performed under the Very Slow Condition. We concluded that slow movement execution may have an influence on cognitive function and may depend on the percentage of decrease from the Preferred speed of the individual.

Adult↗