Methods for evaluating motor control functions for the development of teaching materials for creating diverse movements: evaluation index for motor control function

Problem Statement: Basic movement is acquired during infancy and childhood, so a variety of movement experiences are necessary during this period. In physical education classes, observational evaluation methods are used to assess a child's acquisition of movement. This method evaluates a series of movement points based on objective indicators. However, this method only evaluates the resulting external movements and the internal cognitive aspects of motor function is not assessed. When evaluating movement, it is necessary to perform both internal and external evaluations. Approach: This study examined a method for evaluating body movements from a functional perspective. The corticomuscular coherence (CMC) and intramuscular/intermuscular coherence (IMC) methods were used to evaluate the brain and nervous system, which are the basis of body movement. Purpose: This review summarizes studies that have used these evaluation methods, focusing on the examination of age-related changes. Results: CMC and performance were related, with higher CMC leading to better performance and age-related changes. The IMC showed results similar to those of the CMC, with a tendency to decrease with age and increase with development. This indicates that IMC can be used to evaluate neural function. However, since CMC evaluates neural connections between the brain and muscle and IMC evaluates neural connections between muscle and muscle, they are not exactly the same, but both are considered indicators of neural connections. Conclusions: Children can be evaluated using the IMC method, which is simple and versatile for evaluating body movements from a functional perspective. By presenting this evaluation index, we believe that it is possible to understand children's movement development from an internal perspective and show the development of movement through a child's diverse movement experiences. Thus, we believe that it can be used as an evaluation index for the development of exercise programs.