Citation

Lelard T, Krystkowiak P, Montalan B, Longin E, Bucchioni G, Ahmaidi S, Godefroy O, Mouras H. Behav. Brain Res. 2014; 266: 137-145.

Affiliation

Structure Fédérative de Recherche en Santé CAP-Santé, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, F-80000 Amiens, France, and Université de Reims-Champagne-Ardennes, F-51097 Reims, France; EA 7273, Centre de Recherche en Psychologie: Cognition, Psychisme et Organisations, UFR deSciences Humaines Sciences Sociales et Philosophie, Département de Psychologie, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, F-80000 Amiens, France. Electronic address: hmouras@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.bbr.2014.02.051

PMID

24631393

Abstract

Recent research has shown that emotion influences postural control. The objective of the present study was to establish whether or not postural threat influences postural and physiological responses to aversive visual stimuli. In order to investigate the coupling between emotional reactions, motivated behavior and postural responses, we studied the displacement of the subject's center of pressure (COP) and the changes in electrodermal activity (EDA), heart rate (HR) and postural muscle activation. Thirty-two participants (15 males, 17 females; mean±SD age: 21.4±2.3) viewed affective and neutral pictures while standing still on a force platform in the presence or absence of postural threat. The HR and EDA data revealed that the emotional state varied as a function of the postural condition., The mean displacement in the anteroposterior (AP) axis was more rearwards in response to aversive stimuli that in response to neutral stimuli, in both the absence of postural threat (-0.65mm and +0.90mm for aversive and neutral stimuli, respectively) and the presence of postural threat (-0.00mm vs. +0.89mm, respectively). An aversive stimulus was associated with a shorter AP COP sway path than a neutral stimulus in the presence of a postural threat (167.26mm vs. 174.66mm for aversive and neutral stimuli, respectively) but not in the latter's absence (155.85mm vs. 154.48mm, respectively). Our results evidenced withdrawal behavior in response to an aversive stimulus (relative to a neutral stimulus) in the absence of postural threat. Withdrawal behavior was attenuated (but nevertheless active) in the presence of a postural threat.

Language: en