Changes in EEGs during Taichi-quan

Author: Kimiko KAWANO1,2,3, Hidetsugu KATSURAGAWA2, Hideyuki KOKUBO2,3, Mikio YAMAMOTO2,3, Shuichi HASHIZUME4, Akihiko KAMADA5 and Tsuneo WATANABE2
Affiliation:
1. Centre for Informatics and Sciences, Nippon Medical School (Tokyo, Japan) 2 .Center for the Environmental Study of Life and Mind, Faculty of Science, Toho University (Funabashi, Japan)3. Institute for Living Body Measurements, International Research Institute (Chiba, Japan) 4 .Research Institute, Morinaga & Co., Ltd. (Yokohama, Japan) 5 .Iritech Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan)
Conference/Journal: J. Intl. Soc. life Info. Sci.
Other: Volume ID: 26 , Issue ID: 1 , Pages: 124-128 , Word Count: 154


Changes in EEGs and other physiological data while practicing Taichi-quan were measured for subjects of various skill levels. Six volunteers participated and they had Taichi-quan experiences ranging from having done it only once to having studied it more than eleven years. The EEG a waves on the occipital area became larger during standing Zen meditation than in the regular resting state. On the other hand, during Taichi-quan, a method which involves movements, the a waves, especially of beginners, became smaller. After a practice session, the subjects relaxed and their a waves became large. The frontal a? waves were larger for advanced trainees and those ratios to the occipital ones, Fp2/O2, also became large. Lag times of the a phase between the frontal and occipital areas, as an indicator of concentration, were short for the beginners. The beginners must have stayed focus on the movements of Taichi-quan, though the advanced trainees performed them easily.

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