In kyudo, experts react less than beginners when they imagine the shot

The summary today

The only direct measurement comes from kyudo, and it is one of the oldest studies in the registry. In 1964 fifteen university practitioners imagine their own shot and then watch a film of kyudo while the electrodermal response of the skin is recorded: in the four experts, from second to fourth dan, no clear changes appear in either task, whereas in the eleven less experienced archers a response appears in most cases, and while imagining it is missing in only four of the eleven. The same study finds the opposite link in kendo, where the experts show characteristic waves, which suggests a trait of the discipline rather than of experience as such. Forty years later a comparison across sports also removes the idea of an absolute calm: faced with a tense image, seven kyudo archers are the group whose finger vessels constrict the most, down to 49.6 per cent of the resting value against 77.1 in the kendo masters. What can be said is that among kyudo archers the experts react less than the beginners; in Olympic-style archers the measurement has never been made, and four experts against eleven beginners remain a very small comparison.

Also phrased as: "experts stay calm when they visualise"; "skin conductance and archer level"; "visualisation and arousal in beginners"; "emotional reactivity and experience in kyudo"

Evidence

• 1964
  For Kyudo archers Published later

  15 university kyudo practitioners from Nagoya University, electrodermal response while imagining their own shot: in the 4 experts, from 2nd to 4th dan, no clear change; in the 11 less experienced archers, up to 1st dan, a clear response, absent or barely noticeable in only 4 of the 11 (p. 11).

  Studies on Psychogalvanic Phenomenon in Physical Movements No.5: On Psychogalvanic Phenomenon in response to Kendo play and Kyudo play imaginated and viewed in motion picture · A. Katsube, E. Tadaki

• 1964
  For Kyudo archers Published later

  In the task where they watch a film of kyudo the pattern repeats: few changes in the 4 experts, a marked response in 7 of the 11 less experienced archers (pp. 11-12). In kendo the same study finds the opposite link, with characteristic waves in the experts, frequent responses in the beginners and none in the novices: the trait seems tied to the discipline more than to experience.

  Studies on Psychogalvanic Phenomenon in Physical Movements No.5: On Psychogalvanic Phenomenon in response to Kendo play and Kyudo play imaginated and viewed in motion picture · A. Katsube, E. Tadaki

• 2004
  Context Kyudo archers Published later

  7 kyudo archers from a university club compared with 7 kendo masters, 7 kendo practitioners, 5 karateka and 9 untrained office workers, using differential photoplethysmography at the finger: faced with a tense image the P wave drops to 49.6 ± 14.5% of the resting value in the kyudo archers against 77.1 ± 11.3% in the kendo masters, with a significant difference from the office workers too (p<0.05; Table 3, pp. 240-241). Level within the kyudo group is not separated.

  DIFFERENTIAL DIGITAL PHOTOPLETHYSMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF MICROCIRCULATORY RESPONSES INDUCED BY ARM POSITION CHANGE AND IMAGE LOADING IN KENDO MASTERS · Yukio Tanaka, Kazumi Eguchi, Takashi ITO, Takashi Takemiya

Status history

1. 1964 Reported The first study on the subject is also one of the oldest in the registry: fifteen university kyudo practitioners, measured through the electrodermal response while they imagine their own shot and while they watch a film of kyudo. The four experts, from second to fourth dan, show no clear changes in either task; in the eleven less experienced archers a response appears in most cases, and while imagining it is missing in only four. In kendo the same study finds the opposite link. It is a single study, small and entirely on kyudo: reported, which for a claim resting on kyudo is also the most it can reach.
2. 2004 Reported A comparison across disciplines adds a finding that tempers the reading: faced with a tense image, seven kyudo archers from a university club constrict their finger vessels down to 49.6 per cent of the resting value, more than the kendo masters, who stop at 77.1, and more than untrained office workers. The study does not separate experts from beginners, so on the question itself it says nothing, but it shows that the calm of the 1964 experts has to be read against beginners in the same discipline and not as an absolute calm. The direct evidence is still the 1964 study and the status does not move.

Related

Related articles

• Does imagining the shot raise your score? What the studies measuredDoes imagining the shot raise your score? Forty years of studies on archers, from a 1986 correlation to controlled trials, and where the evidence stops.
• How fired up you need to be to shoot well: individual bands, distance and relaxationIs there a right level of arousal for shooting well? What the studies say about individual bands, shooting distance and relaxing before an end.

Research lines

• 19 studiesArousal, relaxation and individual zones
• 17 studiesJapanese studies of kyudo from 1964 to 2025

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