Dr. Otsuka Mitsuo is Associate Professor in Faculty of Sport and Health Science of Ritsumeikan University, and his research manuscript was accepted and published in Frontiers in Psychology, which collaborated with Professor Tadao Isaka, and Associate Professor Toshiyuki Kurihara. This study examined the effect of variable timing of reaction signals on multiple joint reaction times and whole-body RT for specialist sprinters.  Whole-body RT was significantly shorter when FP length was longer; the values of whole-body RT were 117 ± 5 ms, 129 ± 5 ms, 125 ± 4 ms, 133 ± 6 ms, and 156 ± 8 ms in the 2.096, 1.938, 1.780, 1.622, and 1.465-s FP-length conditions, respectively.  This information will be able to lead to new methods for start signals in sprint running events.

Otsuka M., Kurihara T., Isaka T. (2017) Timing of gun fire influences sprinters’ multiple joint reaction times of whole body in block start. Frontiers in Psychology. 8(81).