Jingu Kim

Neural correlates of pre-performance routines in expert and novice archers

The objective of the present study was to determine differences in neural networks between expert and novice archers during an archery pre-performance routine period (PPR). The experiment was conducted with eight world-class competitor or Olympic medalist archers and eight novices. In the experiment, the task was to shoot (by clicking a mouse with the right hand) if an archery target appeared on an LCD embedded in an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. The resultant fMRI data showed that when the experts were aiming, the occipital gyrus and temporal gyrus were activated, but when the novices were aiming, the frontal area was mainly activated. In addition, the anterior cingulate and posterior cingulate gyrus of the limbic lobe were also activated in the expert and novice groups, respectively. Our results demonstrated that expert and novice archers differed in levels of brain activation during the PPR period of a simulated archery task.

The Influence of Exercise Intensity on Frontal Electroencephalographic Asymmetry and Self-Reported Affect

The “feel better” effect of exercise has been well established, but the optimal intensity needed to elicit a positive affective response is controversial. In addition, the mechanisms underlying such a response are unclear. To clarify these issues, female undergraduate students were monitored for electroencephalographic (EEG) and self-reported affective responses during the recovery period following rest, low, moderate, and high intensities of treadmill running, each lasting 30 min. Frontal EEG asymmetry and self-reported vigor scores following exercise at all three intensities were significantly elevated compared to those observed following rest. The results suggest that steady-state aerobic exercise bouts executed at varying intensities induce a similar affective response during the recovery period when assessed at both the behavioral and psychophysiological levels.

Mood after Various Brief Exercise and Sport Modes: Aerobics, Hip-Hop Dancing, ICE Skating, and Body Conditioning

To investigate the potential psychological benefits of brief exercise and sport activities on positive mood alterations, 45 Korean high school and 232 undergraduate students enrolled in physical education and stress management classes voluntarily participated and were randomly assigned to one of four activities: aerobic exercise, body conditioning, hip-hop dancing, and ice skating. Mood changes from before to after exercise (2 pm to 3 pm) were measured based on a Korean translation of the Subjective Exercise Experiences Scale. The findings suggested that the aerobics and hip-hop dancing groups rated positive well-being higher than the body conditioning and ice skating groups. Immediately after exercise, psychological distress was rated lower in the aerobics and hip-hop dancing groups, as was fatigue.

Noise Distraction and Mental Practice in Closed and Open Motor Skills

Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether mental practice can serve as an effective intervention strategy for decreasing interference effects of distracting noise at the time of executing open (badminton service return) and closed (badminton serve) skills. In Experiment 1, 44 male students participated and in Experiment 2, 36 students participated. In both experiments, students were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (a) mental practice, (b) mental practice plus noise distraction (MPD), and (c) control. All participants performed 40 trials in the acquisition phase and 20 trials in the retention phase. Absolute error and adjusted variable error were recorded to measure performance. Experiment 1 showed that for a closed skill, the MPD group served with greater accuracy than did the control group in both acquisition and retention phases. Experiment 2 showed that for the open skill, the MP group performed with less error than did the control group, but only in the acquisition trials. Results indicate that mental practice may function to block out noise disturbances and that mental practice may work differently with different skill sets.

COMPARISON OF ATHLETES WITH AND WITHOUT BURNOUT USING THE STROOP COLOR AND WORD TEST.

The present study compared brain activity of adolescents with or without burnout during their responses to a computerized version of the Stroop Color and Word Test. The Sport Adaptation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory was administered to 460 Korean high school student athletes. Electroencephalographic data were recorded from frontal, central, parietal, and occipital brain regions while these participants were performing the Stroop Color and Word Test. A 2 (group) × 2 (condition) × 15 (electrodes) three-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Results indicated that the athletes without burnout exhibited significantly higher accuracy than their counterparts with burnout on the Stroop Color and Word Test. The athletes without burnout also showed higher amplitudes for theta, alpha, and beta power in the frontal areas than the athletes with burnout.

Influence of self-controlled feedback on learning a serial motor skill.

Self-controlled feedback on a variety of tasks are well established as effective means of facilitating motor skill learning. This study assessed the effects of self-controlled feedback on the performance of a serial motor skill. The task was to learn the sequence of 18 movements that make up the Taekwondo Poomsae Taegeuk first, which is the first beginners practice form learned in this martial art. Twenty-four novice female participants (M age = 27.2 yr., SD = 1.8) were divided into two groups. All participants performed 16 trials in 4 blocks of the acquisition phase and 20 hr. later, 8 trials in 2 blocks of the retention phase. The self-controlled feedback group had significantly higher performance compared to the yoked-feedback group with regard to acquisition and retention. The results of this study may contribute to the literature regarding feedback by extending the usefulness of self-controlled feedback for learning a serial skill.

NEURAL CORRELATES OF WINNING AND LOSING WHILE WATCHING SOCCER MATCHES

The purpose of this study was to examine the emotions experienced by spectators when their favorite team wins or loses a soccer match using fMRI. Those who watched winning scenes showed activation of the right and left occipital lobes, left temporal lobe, left limbic lobe, middle occipital gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, guneus, and uncus. Those who watched losing scenes showed activation of the right frontal lobe and right limbic lobe. This result suggests that emotional suppression is much stronger in negative emotional responses than in positive responses.

Minimizing error in measurement of error: a proposed method for calculation of error in a two-dimensional motor task.

Traditional one-dimensional error scores are still consistently used in research on motor learning to quantify two-dimensional error; however, the inherent differences in two-dimensional tasks render that application inappropriate and often misleading. Consequently, the purpose of this paper was to propose a novel method of presenting errors, which more precisely represents the accuracy, direction, and variability of error in two-dimensional settings. Although closely related to several alternatives for representing errors, the methodology used and the results obtained provide a more accurate procedure for pinpointing critical trends in what have been commonly referred to as AE (absolute error), VE (variable error), CE (constant error), and E (total variability). The proposed measurements of AVE (adjusted variable error), DE (directional error), TSE (total spread of error), and RE (radial error) provide composite error scores carrying a variety of information about performance on two-dimensional tasks. Formulas and examples are provided to facilitate computation and enhance understanding of the proposed scores.

Does treadmill walking with near-infrared light applied to the abdominal area reduce local adiposity and body weight?

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to determine the effect on local fat deposition and body weight of wearing a near-infrared light belt around the abdomen. [Subjects and Methods] Twenty-eight obese female subjects participated in this experiment. For measurement of body composition, an impedance-style body fat analyzer was used. The experimental group performed treadmill walking 3 times per week for 12 weeks while wearing an activated near-infrared belt around the abdomen. The near-infrared belt was composed of light-emitting diodes having wavelengths of 630 nm, 830 nm, 880 nm, and 956 nm. [Results] The analysis of abdominal circumference indicated that the abdominal circumference of the experimental group was reduced in post-test measurements compared to pre-test. [Conclusion] This investigation showed significant reductions in abdominal circumference, abdominal fat percentage, fat mass, and body-mass index for the experimental compared to the control group, suggesting that changes in body composition can be enhanced when near-infrared radiation is applied to the abdomen during walking.

Differential frontal theta activity during cognitive and motor tasks.

The present study investigated psychophysiological differences between cognitive and motor tasks. Participants were 16 university students (male[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]10, female[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]6) aged between 24 to 31 years (mean[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]27.6 years, SD[Formula: see text][Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] years). They were instructed to perform cognitive and motor tasks while their brain activity was simultaneously recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). A 3(task)[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]8(area)[Formula: see text][Formula: see text][Formula: see text]4(bands) analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on theta, alpha and beta frequency bands. The results showed that the cognitive task resulted in a significantly higher spectral power in the theta band at frontal electrodes than did the motor task. This suggests that the frontal lobe might be engaged in problem solving, resulting in increased theta activity. However, there were no differences in alpha and beta activity between the two tasks. The present study provides psychophysiological evidence for classifying cognitive and motor tasks, which has been a controversial issue for task classifications in motor learning research.