Document Detail


Does observation of postural imbalance induce a postural reaction?
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21423622     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: Several studies bring evidence that action observation elicits contagious responses during social interactions. However automatic imitative tendencies are generally inhibited and it remains unclear in which conditions mere action observation triggers motor behaviours. In this study, we addressed the question of contagious postural responses when observing human imbalance.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We recorded participants' body sway while they observed a fixation cross (control condition), an upright point-light display of a gymnast balancing on a rope, and the same point-light display presented upside down. Our results showed that, when the upright stimulus was displayed prior to the inverted one, centre of pressure area and antero-posterior path length were significantly greater in the upright condition compared to the control and upside down conditions.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results demonstrate a contagious postural reaction suggesting a partial inefficiency of inhibitory processes. Further, kinematic information was sufficient to trigger this reaction. The difference recorded between the upright and upside down conditions indicates that the contagion effect was dependent on the integration of gravity constraints by body kinematics. Interestingly, the postural response was sensitive to habituation, and seemed to disappear when the observer was previously shown an inverted display. The motor contagion recorded here is consistent with previous work showing vegetative output during observation of an effortful movement and could indicate that lower level control facilitates contagion effects.
Authors:
Banty Tia; Arnaud Saimpont; Christos Paizis; France Mourey; Luciano Fadiga; Thierry Pozzo
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't     Date:  2011-03-15
Journal Detail:
Title:  PloS one     Volume:  6     ISSN:  1932-6203     ISO Abbreviation:  PLoS ONE     Publication Date:  2011  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-03-22     Completed Date:  2011-07-05     Revised Date:  2011-07-27    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101285081     Medline TA:  PLoS One     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  e17799     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
INSERM U887, Motricité et Plasticité, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France. banty.tia@u-bourgogne.fr
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Female
Humans
Light
Male
Movement / physiology
Physical Stimulation
Postural Balance / physiology*
Posture / physiology*
Pressure
Young Adult
Comments/Corrections
Erratum In:
PLoS One. 2011;6(3). doi: 10.1371/annotation/aff2c1f3-08af-4a36-bf53-0df2bfd9c320

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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