NOM: What kind of effects does training have, for example?
Ishigaki:
"We receive a lot of information through vision. Some say we receive
80% of information through vision. By training your visual abilities,
you can expect an improvement in processing this information quickly
and accurately. For example, I think it should have an effect when
making judgements about things.
"To use a familiar example of
what might result from that, I predict that you could read books and
newspapers more smoothly and improve your ability to understand them.
It may also be beneficial for things like driving, which requires
various situational judgements. By enabling you to accurately recognise
traffic lights and signs, and easily pay attention to other cars and
pedestrians, it should be helpful for safer driving as well. Also, as
visual ability training was originally developed with improving sports
ability in mind, I expect that it should be effective in sports
situations as well."
NOM: Is it actually becoming more effective in the field of sports?
Ishigaki: "In
recent years, professional athletes of all kinds such as Major League
Baseball players, have started visual training with good results. In my
opinion, Focus Ability ultimately has a positive effect in maintaining
top-level performance in pro sports. Even pro athletes' general
abilities weaken as they age. I believe that the eyes are the most
efficient thing to retrain during that process. The rally driver
Hiroshi Masuoka is one famous sportsman who maintains his top
performance through deliberate visual training."
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NOM: He won the Paris-Dakar rally two years in a row, didn't he?
Ishigaki: "That's
right. I asked him to speak as a special speaker at a sports vision
seminar held last year. Though the Paris-Dakar rally calls to mind
images of running straight through an unchanging desert, you actually
have to drive carefully and be attentive to things like slight steps in
the ground. Because you're driving at a high speed, you're at risk of
flipping over if you don't instantly judge the condition of the ground
and handle the car skilfully.
"Masuoka paid a great deal of
attention to his eyes – he prepared 10 different kinds of glasses and
chose glasses based on the weather and colour of the sand, and he also
brought a computer with him with visual training software installed and
focused his training on Eye Movement and Momentary Vision. I first made
his acquaintance through some computer visual training software that I
had previously supervised; though he was probably just being polite, I
was very pleased when he told me, 'I became world number one thanks to
that training'".
NOM: Is there anything like a certain age where training is most effective?
Ishigaki:
"The most effective ages are roughly around primary school age to
secondary school age, the age period known as the 'golden age' in
sports circles. This is the time when the foundations for the body's
abilities are being laid, so I'd recommend practising visual training
as well.
"By the way, children who like sports tend to have high
Focus Ability. For example, strengths like Dynamic Visual Acuity in
children who play baseball were higher than average when measured with
specialist equipment. This is because their Dynamic Visual Acuity was
being trained when playing baseball. I think adding in visual training
would multiply this effect. By improving Focus Ability, they can reduce
the number of mistakes in actual play and be more confident in matches.
And with confidence, they might like their matches even more.
"Also,
sports like football require a wide field of vision and quick
situational decision-making. There are actually some children’s
football clubs that carry out visual ability training because of this."
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NOM: So how about adults?
Ishigaki:
"Focus Ability is difficult to train in normal day-to-day life, but I
think the elderly might have plenty of time to train. I think
compensating for the decrease in eyesight with visual ability would
make practical daily life easier for them. Of course, it should also be
effective for adults who enjoy sports the same as children do.
Continuing visual training daily could help you find out the condition
of your vision. Depending on whether the results of your training are
higher or lower than normal, you could find out whether you're on a
roll today, or if you might be a bit tired. I'd recommend using it to
get a rough idea like that.
"Here is an anecdote from the
development staff at Nintendo: As we were adding a function in this
game to measure your 'Eye Age score', we carried out a survey of 118
people from around ages 20 to 70. There was one person who had good
results even though he was over 50. When we asked him about his job, he
said he was a driver. It seems the degree to which you use your visual
abilities does depend on your lifestyle environment and work after
all."
NOM: The game also emphasises resting the eyes, such as with eye stretching exercises.
Ishigaki:
"Eyes are organs that tire very easily. Just like how excessive
muscular training will cause damage to the muscle, excessive visual
training is to be avoided. I would recommend doing no more than 15
minutes’ training at a time. It doesn’t matter if you only do it for
short periods of time; what's important is to just keep doing it in
small steps every day."
NOM: We hear that visual training may reduce tiredness or make the eyes tire less easily. Why might this be?
Ishigaki: "Visual
training is like putting a strain on your eyes. By training, you add a
burden not experienced in daily life. Then you rest. Then you add the
burden again... By repeating this action, you increase the eyes'
resistance to the burdens placed on them by daily life.
"However,
as I said previously, you should be careful as excessive training will
have the reverse effect. I'd like everyone to understand that visual
training will not relax your eyes completely, but by training your
visual abilities, your eyes will tire less easily when doing the same
things as before. I think it’s definitely worth taking a good look at
the benefits in the long run!"
NOM: After hearing your explanation, we want to try visual training too. Thank you very much!
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