Abstract

The purpose of this study was to uncover the characteristics of zanshin (spirit that remains after striking an opponent) of kendo practitioners. Kendo practitioners and non-kendo practitioners were compared from a unique perspective: the relationship between their eye blink control and the duration of their contingent negative variation (CNV). The CNV is related to continuation of expectancy or attention. The participants were divided into kendo and non-kendo groups. The participants performed discriminative stimulus tasks (Go and No-go button press tasks). The following were measured in these tasks: the area of the CNV plotted on a graph between 1800 and 2000 ms after the first light stimulus (S1); duration of the CNV after the second light stimulus (S2) (CNV resolution time); button-press reaction time in response to S2; and the timing of the first eye blink between 1000 and 2000 ms after S2. Data analysis showed no significant differences in reaction time and the CNV area between the two groups. The CNV ended significantly later for the kendo group than for the non-kendo group in the Go task. Also, the kendo group blinked their eyes after S2 significantly later than the non-kendo group. There was therefore a significant positive correlation between the CNV resolution time and the timing of eye blinking. The study uncovered one of the characteristics of zanshin by indicating that the kendo group sustained their attention during internal information processing even after completion of the task. Verf.-Referat