Influence of emotion on the control of low-level force production

Influence of emotion on precision grip force control: A comparison of pleasant and neutral emotion

Objective

The present study aimed to investigate the impact of emotion on force steadiness of isometric precision pinch grip that is not direction-specific.

Methods

Thirty-two healthy volunteer subjects participated in the present study. Subjects were divided into two experimental groups: pleasant image group and neutral image group. The isometric precision pinch grip task was performed for three times. Specifically, the first task was performed before pleasant or neutral picture viewing, the second task was performed immediately after picture viewing, further the third task was performed 30 seconds after the second task. During the isometric precision pinch grip task, participants were asked to exert pinch grip force at 10% of maximal voluntary contraction with visual feedback. The coefficient of variation of force production and normalized root mean square value of electromyography activity were calculated.

Results

After pleasant picture viewing, coefficient of variation of pinch force production and normalized root mean square value of electromyography was decreased. While, in the neutral image condition, theses variables were not altered. More important, compared to the neutral image condition, pleasant emotion led to lower coefficient of variation of pinch grip force production.

Conclusion

These findings indicate that pleasant emotion improves force control of isometric precision pinch grip. Therefore, in clinical settings, the emotional state of patients may affect the effectiveness of rehabilitation and should be taken into consideration.

Tracking stress via the computer mouse? Promises and challenges of a potential behavioral stress marker

Computer mouse tracking offers a simple and cost-efficient way to gather continuous behavioral data and has mostly been utilized in psychological science to study cognitive processes. The present study extends the potential applicability of computer mouse tracking and investigates the feasibility of using computer mouse tracking for stress measurement. Drawing on first empirical results and theoretical considerations, we hypothesized that stress affects sensorimotor processes involved in mouse usage. To explore the relationship between stress and computer mouse usage, we conducted a between-participant field experiment in which N = 994 participants worked on four mouse tasks in a high-stress or low-stress condition. In the manipulation check, participants reported different stress levels between the two conditions. However, frequentist and machine learning data analysis approaches did not reveal a clear and systematic relationship between mouse usage and stress. These findings challenge the feasibility of using straightforward computer mouse tracking for generalized stress measurement.

An Emotional Call to Action: Integrating Affective Neuroscience in Models of Motor Control

Intimate relationships between emotion and action have long been acknowledged, yet contemporary theories and experimental research within affective and movement neuroscience have not been linked into a coherent framework bridging these two fields. Accumulating psychological and neuroimaging evidence has, however, brought new insights regarding how emotions affect the preparation, execution, and control of voluntary movement. Here we review main approaches and findings on such emotion–action interactions. To assimilate key emotion concepts of action tendencies and motive states with fundamental constructs of the motor system, we underscore the need for integrating an information-processing approach of motor control into affective neuroscience. This should provide a rich foundation to bridge the two fields, allowing further refinement and empirical testing of emotion theories and better understanding of affective influences in movement disorders.

Bodily Expression Support for Creative Dance Education by Grasping-Type Musical Interface with Embedded Motion and Grasp Sensors

Dance has been made mandatory as one of the physical education courses in Japan because it can cultivate capacities for expression and communication. Among several types of dance education, creative dance especially contributes to the cultivation of these capacities. However, creative dance requires some level of particular skills, as well as creativity, and it is difficult to presuppose these pre-requisites in beginner-level dancers without experience. We propose a novel supporting device for dance beginners to encourage creative dance performance by continuously generating musical sounds in real-time in accordance with their bodily movements. It has embedded sensors developed for this purpose. Experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of the device were conducted with ten beginner-level dancers. Using the proposed device, the subjects demonstrated enhanced creative dance movements with greater variety, evaluated in terms of Laban dance movement description. Also, using the device, they performed with better accuracy and repeatability in a task where they produced an imagined circular trajectory by hand. The proposed interface is effective in terms of creative dance activity and accuracy of motion generation for beginner-level dancers.

Effects of a force production task and a working memory task on pain perception

The goal in the current study was to examine the analgesic effects of a pinch grip-force production task and a working memory task when pain-eliciting thermal stimulation was delivered simultaneously to the left or right hand during task performance. Control conditions for visual distraction and thermal stimulation were included, and force performance measures and working memory performance measures were collected and analyzed. Our experiments revealed 3 novel findings. First, we showed that accurate isometric force contractions elicit an analgesic effect when pain-eliciting thermal stimulation was delivered during task performance. Second, the magnitude of the analgesic effect was not different when the pain-eliciting stimulus was delivered to the left or right hand during the force task or the working memory task. Third, we found no correlation between analgesia scores during the force task and the working memory task. Our findings have clinical implications for rehabilitation settings because they suggest that acute force production by one limb influences pain perception that is simultaneously experienced in another limb. From a theoretical perspective, we interpret our findings on force and memory driven analgesia in the context of a centralized pain inhibitory response.

PERSPECTIVE

This article shows that force production and working memory have analgesic effects irrespective of which side of the body pain is experienced on. Analgesia scores were not correlated, however, suggesting that some individuals experience more pain relief from a force task as compared to a working memory task and vice versa.