Article Psychology

The effects of interactive fitness video games on stress and cognitive function

Exercise that stimulates perceptual and cognitive aspects and simultaneously enhances neuromuscular coordination has both cognitive and psychological effects. We examined the effects of an interactive fitness video game in 18 healthy participants (8 males and 10 females). The participants performed under 1) TETRIS, 2) Radio Gymnastics, or 3) FITRIS (interactive fitness video game) conditions on different days. In this experiment, first there was a 4-minute rest period during which the mean heart rate was measured, followed by a cognitive task. The heart rate was measured to confirm the intensity of the exercise. Then either the TETRIS, Radio Gymnastics, or FITRIS condition was initiated, while the mean heart rate was measured again. Then there was another cognitive task, followed by another 4 minute rest and mean heart rate measurement period. Saliva samples were collected after each period where the heart rate was measured. All of the participants completed evaluations of cognitive tasks (executive functions; inhibitory control and working memory) before and after each condition. The results showed that salivary cortisol decreased in all conditions, and both the FITRIS and Radio gymnastics conditions had a positive effect on executive function (inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility). In particular, it was shown that FITRIS had an increased effect on cognitive flexibility.

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Article Others

Ranking performance and network structure in world rugby sevens; 2011-2020 longitudinal data analysis

The aim of this study was to clarify the attack-defence performances of rugby sevens in 2010-2020 seasons, 4,074 matches. Firstly, averaged try scoring rate and try conceding rate of every teams were drawn in two-dimensions space. Hypothesis 1 was that the achievement values of the upper teams could be clarified. Receiver-Operator-Curve analysis was used to understand how attack-defence indicators correctly diagnose the world rankings. Secondly, the 22m entry attack-defence indicators were drawn in two-dimensional space. Clustering analysis of ranking teams was executed using try scoring rate, try conceding rate, 22m attack-defence indicators. Hypothesis 2 was that the clustering characteristics of upper teams can be clarified by these indexes. Thirdly, network analysis was executed to clarify what kind of characteristic in relationship among the ranking, team performance, and individual performance. The ROC analysis showed the specific achievement level of the top-ranking teams with high accuracy (hypothesis 1). Cluster analysis extracted 4 groups. The gradual attack defence standard values were obtained (hypothesis 2). Network analysis showed the relationship structure among the ranking, the team performance, and the individual performance with some interesting results concerned the dependence tendency changing on the ranking stage (hypothesis 3).

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Article Electrical and Electronic Engineering Interdisciplinary Sciences

Heart Rate Variability Indices May Change Accompanying Cognitive Skills Improvement in eSports Tasks

Electronic sports (eSports) is becoming an increasingly popular subject of research with progress in the video game industry. However, the relationship between eSports and cognitive skills and heart rate variability (HRV) indices is not fully understood. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed changes in HRV indices in 20 healthy adult men while playing eSports and evaluated improvement in their cognitive skills before and after playing eSports using the Stroop test. The subjects were divided into two groups: 10 subjects who were trained in eSports for at least 1 hour a day, 5 days a week for 6 weeks, and 10 subjects who were not trained. The results indicated that subjects in the training group tended to have improved cognitive skills. In addition, in the group that temporarily improved their cognitive skills by playing eSports, similar changes were observed in HRV indices during eSports play, suggesting a parasympathetic nervous system dominance. Thus, it is suggested that the observed HRV changes were accompanied by the temporary improvement in cognitive skills induced by eSports tasks.

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Article Education Others

The relationship among skills/factors and their structure and wins/losses in games in basketball classes

This study aimed to extract the structure of plays/fouls of basketball games in university PE classes using MDS and to investigate the relationship between wins/losses and their structure using logistic regression analysis in the games. Targeted games were 20 games performed in university PE classes at F-university and the plays/factors observed were assessed by a 5-point scale. The items observed were 52 items chosen from “Passing,” “Dribbling,” “Shooting,” “Rebounding,” “Fast break,” “Cooperative plays,” “Violations,” and “Fouls.” After the principal component analysis was applied to the whole data, the items that did not show significant loadings were removed from the analysis, and a correlation matrix among only the items that had significant principle loadings was computed. Another principal component analysis was performed and the principal component scores for each skill/factor were computed. Nonmetric MDS was applied to the correlation matrix, a two-dimensional space was extracted, and the rotation of axes by Varimax criterion and clustering by hierarchical cluster analysis were applied to the two-dimensional space. Finally, logistic regression analysis to predict wins/losses was carried out using skills/factors including gender and evaluators to remove their influence as independent variables. As a result, the following results were obtained: 1) The two-dimensional space obtained was interpreted as “Individual skills and skills leading to fouls/violations” and “Individual – group skills.” Again, the four clusters obtained were also named “Ball-advancing individual skills,” “Under-basket individual skills,” “Cooperative skills,” and “Against-rule and unskilled plays.” 2) Although the likelihood ratio test of logistic regression analysis with all independent variables was not significant, the test of the model after the independent-variable selection was significant, in which “Shooting,” “Cooperative plays,” “Fouls,” and “Gender” were included. In the univariate analysis using correlation ratios, “Dribbling,” “Shooting,” and “Cooperative plays” were significant, but “Fouls” were not. It is thought that “Dribbling” lost its significant relationship with wins/losses when removing the influence of “Cooperative plays,” and insignificant “Fouls” in the univariate analysis showed an important impact on wins/losses because the fouls provided the change of offense and the risk of a losing score increased.

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Article Electrical and Electronic Engineering Interdisciplinary Sciences

Real-Time Physiological Monitoring for Management of Normobaric Hypoxic Training Toward Wearable System Implementation

As a method to prevent lifestyle diseases, normobaric hypoxic training has been attracting attention. However, its exercise load and safety in non-athletes remain unclear. In this study, 20 healthy university students underwent a 15-min exercise test in a normobaric hypoxic room set at two different oxygen concentrations (O2: 20% and 16%), and the exercise load and safety were evaluated. The test comprised walking within the upper and lower limits of the heart rate (HR) calculated via the Karvonen method. The results showed that in case of 16% O2, the same energy was consumed despite significantly lower walking speed and distance than those in case of 20% O2. Therefore, it is suggested that the Karvonen method is effective in setting the load for hypoxic training. In addition, real-time monitoring of arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) could be used to evaluate the safety of hypoxic training. Based on these results, we have developed a wearable pulse oximeter that can measure both HR and SpO2 from the earlobe and a dedicated smartphone application for analysis. If these can be practically applied, hypoxic training can be conducted safely that will contribute to the prevention of lifestyle diseases and the consequent extension of healthy life expectancy.

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Article Education Psychology

The relationship of Mobile Phone Addiction and Irrational Procrastination in College Students: Mediating Effect of Perceived Stress

This study aimed to examine the mediating role of perceived stress in the relationship between mobile phone addiction and irrational procrastination. Recent studies have shown that mobile phone addiction can cause or aggravate irrational procrastination. 6220 Chinese college students completed the questionnaires about their information of demographic, mobile phone addiction, perceived stress and irrational procrastination (response rate of 91.6%). Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 25.0 and PROCESS 3.5. The mediation model was tested using Model 4 in Hayes' Process and the percentile Bootstrap algorithm with deviation correction, repeat sampling 5000 times and calculate the 95% confidence interval. The results show that mobile phone addiction of college students has a significant positive predictive effect on irrational procrastination after controlling for age, tobacco and alcohol use. In addition, mediation analysis indicated significant mediation of perceived stress in the relationship between mobile phone addiction and irrational procrastination in both male and female students.

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Article Psychology

Examining the effects of digital gameplay of the racing genre on mood and heart rate

This study aimed to determine racing esport games’ effects on the physiological and psychological indices using psychological scales and heart rate monitors. The participants were 10 male university students who did not play games diurnally (mean age ± 20.10, SD = 1.10). Participants wore a wristwatch heart rate monitor, and their resting heart rate was measured for 2 min. The duration of the game play was set to 30 min, and their heart rates were continuously measured during play. The changes in the psychological state before and after the game play were then examined using a two-dimensional mood scale-short term. The results showed that the average heart rate significantly increased during gameplay compared to the resting state. As for participants’ psychological state before and after the gameplay, the vitality, pleasure, and arousal levels increased while the stability level decreased. These results indicate that gameplay in the racing genre can induce a lively mood and increase the heart rate.

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Article Business & Management Economics Education Others Psychology

Impact on evaluation of Viewpoints to assess the positioning on half-court defense in the basketball

While there are some desirable and some not-so-desirable half-court positions in basketball, the "desirable positioning" may not always be clearly determined due to the values of the coach or manager. The most important factor in this is the "point of view". Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the perspectives that influence the evaluation of positioning in half-court defense for university teams be-longing to the first and second divisions of the Basketball Federation. A total of 192 players (110 male players and 82 female players) from university teams in the first and second divisions of the K-Student Basketball Federation were included in the study. As a result, the perspectives of the reasons for the decisions obtained in the descriptive form have been classified into the following categories: "Weak-side defensive position," "Strong-side defensive position," "Ball man defensive position," "General defensive position," "Defensive position related to play selection," "Defensive position related to coordination," and "Defensive position related to situational judgment. "The defensive positions were classified into seven categories: defensive positions related to situational viewpoints.

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Article Education Environmental Sciences Psychology

Effect of positive and negative ions in esports performance and arousal levels

The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychological effects of arousal levels in esports players during a racing-game under positive and negative ion environments. Participants (10 male) who belonged to the collegiate esports team were recruited. The influences of positive and negative ions were evaluated in a randomized, crossover, and placebo-controlled double-blind design. Each participant completed two experiments within a 4-week interval. Two experimental environments were used: positive and negative ions filled up the atmosphere (PNI), and a control (CON) condition. For the performance task, a car-racing game was adopted. Arousal state was measured by the Two-Dimensional Mood Scale (TDMS) and an electroencephalogram (EEG). Results indicated that the EEG level was significantly higher in PNI than CON condition. Also, the PNI had a significantly higher performance on the gaming task than the CON condition. The present study demonstrated the beneficial effects of positive and negative ion environments on esports players.

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