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. 2018 Jan 10;37(1):2.
doi: 10.1186/s40101-017-0161-7.

Developmental changes in shortening of pro-saccade reaction time while maintaining neck flexion position

Kenji Kunita  1 , Katsuo Fujiwara  2 , Naoe Kiyota  3 , Chie Yaguchi  3 , Takeo Kiyota  4
Affiliations

Developmental changes in shortening of pro-saccade reaction time while maintaining neck flexion position

Kenji Kunita et al. J Physiol Anthropol. .

Abstract

Background: We investigated developmental changes in shortening of pro-saccade reaction time while maintaining neck flexion.

Methods: Subjects comprised 135 children (3-14 years) and 29 young adults (19-23 years). Children were divided into six groups in 2-year age strata. Pro-saccade reaction tasks for 30 s were performed in neck rest and flexion positions. Reaction times under each position were averaged in every 10-s period.

Results: Under neck rest position, reaction time in the 0-10 s period was significantly longer in the 3- to 4-year-old group than in the 5- to 6-year-old group and above. No significant age effect was found for reaction time in the 0-10 s period in the 5- to 6-year-old group and above. Although a significant effect of neck flexion was not observed until the 9- to 10-year-old group, significant shortening of reaction time with neck flexion was found in the 11- to 12-year-old group and above. Furthermore, this shortening was maintained until the first 20-s period in the 11- to 12-year-old group and during the entire 30 s in the 13- to 14-year-old and above.

Conclusions: These results suggest that brain activation with the maintenance of neck flexion, related to shortening of the pro-saccade reaction time, was found from a later age of approximately 11 years and above, compared with the age at which information-processing function in the pro-saccade was enhanced. In addition, brain activation with the maintenance of neck flexion was sustained longer with age.

Keywords: Brain activation; Development; Neck flexion; Pro-saccade reaction time.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

In accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, all subjects provided informed consent after receiving an explanation of the experimental protocol, which was approved by the ethics committee at Sapporo International University.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Experimental setup. A: Neck angular detector. B: Head inclination angular detector using the pendulum principle. C: Visual stimulator. D: Chin stand
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
a Four lateral targets located at 5° and 10° to the left and right of the central fixation point. b Presentation protocol in the pro-saccade task
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Analysis of saccadic reaction time in two sample records (neck rest position and neck flexion position)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Mean and standard deviation of relative ratio of EMG amplitude in every 10-s time band
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Mean and standard deviation of pro-saccade reaction time at neck rest position and neck flexion position in every 10-s time band. Asterisk indicates significant difference between time bands. * < 0.05; ** < 0.01, *** < 0.001. Plus indicates significant difference between postural conditions. + < 0.01
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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