First Advisor

Karch, Adriana

College

College for Professional Studies

Degree Name

Master of Arts

School

School of Humanities & Social Sciences

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

93 pages

Abstract

The control group study investigated the impact of a mindfulness centering technique, taken from the Japanese martial art Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido, on balance and reaction time performance as well as on concurrent levels of galvanic skin response (arousal). Study design and analysis occurred within a social neuroscience framework that included the cultural view of mind, body, and emotion as an integrated whole, and brain research from multiple disciplines revealing the neural integrated organism. Thirty-one subjects were tested in a visual-stimulus reaction time task and in an unstable rocker-board balancing task. Prior to repeating the tests, experimental group participants learned the centering technique and control group participants received a brief lecture. Significant improvement for the experimental group over the control group was limited to one balance measure. Results in general indicated a possible trend to improved balance performance with centering. Arousal level correlated significantly with performance and task type for the entire sample. In light of ongoing neuroscience research, the study's findings point to the value of approaching clinical studies of performance from an integrated organism perspective.

Date of Award

Summer 2007

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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