Department of Clinical Physiology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan.
Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki, Japan.
BMC Pediatr. 2018 Oct 18;18(1):331. doi: 10.1186/s12887-018-1309-2.
Beneficial effects of mastication on cognitive abilities in the elderly have been shown in human studies. However, little is currently known about the effect of masticatory stimulation on cognitive and perceptual ability in younger populations. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the influences of masticatory stimulation on perceptual ability in adolescent boys.
The present study examined the relationship between occlusal force (i.e., masticatory stimulation) and visual perception ability in adolescent boys. Visual perception ability was quantified by measuring global motion coherence threshold using psychophysical method. As an index of masticatory stimulation, occlusal force was measured by pressure sensitive film. We also measured participants' athletic ability, e.g. aerobic capacity and grip strength, as potential confounding factor.
The multiple regression analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between global motion coherence threshold and occlusal force, which persisted after controlling for confounding factors such as age and aerobic capacity.
This finding indicates that masticatory stimulation enhances visual perception in adolescent boys, indicating the possibility that beneficial effects of masticatory stimulation are observed not only in the elderly but in developing population consistently with the findings of the previous animal studies.
人体研究表明，咀嚼对老年人的认知能力有益。然而，目前对于咀嚼刺激对年轻人群的认知和感知能力的影响知之甚少。本研究的目的是探讨咀嚼刺激对青少年男孩感知能力的影响。
本研究考察了青少年男孩的咬合力（即咀嚼刺激）与视觉感知能力之间的关系。使用心理物理法测量整体运动相干性阈值来量化视觉感知能力。作为咀嚼刺激的指标，使用压敏胶片测量咬合力。我们还测量了参与者的运动能力，如有氧能力和握力，作为潜在的混杂因素。
多元回归分析显示，整体运动相干性阈值与咬合力呈显著负相关，在控制年龄和有氧能力等混杂因素后仍然存在。
这一发现表明，咀嚼刺激增强了青少年男孩的视觉感知能力，这表明咀嚼刺激的有益效果不仅在老年人中观察到，而且与之前的动物研究结果一致，在发展中的人群中也观察到。
