Listening to action-related sentences impairs postural control

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Human motor control
• Cognitive psychology

Background:

• Mirror neurons in the premotor cortex activate during both action perception and execution.
• Cognitive dissonance theory suggests potential conflict between simultaneous perception and action.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of action perception on postural control.
• To test the hypothesis that simultaneous action perception impairs posture maintenance.

Main Methods:

• 23 neurologically normal participants maintained erect posture on a forceplate.
• Participants listened to action-related sentences (first/third person) and control sentences (nature/everyday objects).
• Statistical analyses included tests of differences and Friedman analysis of variance.

Main Results:

• Listening to action-related sentences significantly impaired postural control compared to control sentences.
• The impairment was observed when sentences described actions and movements in the first and third person.

Conclusions:

• Perceiving actions, particularly when described in the first or third person, negatively impacts postural stability.
• This finding supports the link between action perception and motor control, potentially involving premotor cortex activity.