EVALUATION OF THE MOTOR CONTROL IN AN ASCENDING PHASE AND A DESCENDING PHASE OF THE PASSIVE FORCE ON THE BASIS OF KINETIC - EQUILIBRATING TASK

The purpose of this study was to compare the motor control against the passive force between an ascend phase (AP) and a descend phase (DP), and to investigate the effect of a subject's athletic experience on it. Thirty-four subjects participated in the experiment, and they were classified into an athlete group and a control group. We used a kinetic-equilibrating (K-E) task. Result of K-E task depends on the kinesthesia, because subjects are required to maintain their balance against a passive force under conditions of limited visual and aural feedbacks. Therefore, subjects were instructed to resist the passive force. Their performance was evaluated using parameters such as absolute error, position fluctuation, and variable error that were calculated from position data. Significantly higher values on DP than AP for each parameter in the control group were found. However, the values of both AP and DP were similar in the athlete group. It was suggested that the athlete group could perform the same level of motor control against passive force between AP and DP, although it was more difficult in DP than in AP for the control group.