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Walking through apertures: do you know what you are doing during body-scaled action?
Anouk Keizer1, Suzanne E M De Bruijn, Monique A M Smeets
1Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Helmholtz Institute, PO Box 80140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. A.Keizer@uu.nl
Perception
|August 23, 2013
Summary
Distraction during walking through narrow openings influenced movement efficiency. Participants performing a secondary task showed less shoulder rotation, suggesting task awareness impacts action performance.
Area of Science:
- Motor control
- Human movement science
- Cognitive psychology
Background:
- Body-scaled action, like walking through apertures, is crucial for navigation.
- The influence of concurrent cognitive load on motor task execution is not fully understood.
- Action planning and performance may be modulated by attentional focus.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if awareness of performing a motor task affects body-scaled action.
- To determine how concurrent cognitive demands influence gait adjustments when navigating obstacles.
- To examine the relationship between attentional focus and movement efficiency.
Main Methods:
- Participants walked through apertures of varying sizes.
- Awareness of the walking task was manipulated by assigning a concurrent haptic memory task to a subgroup.
- Shoulder rotation was measured to quantify action adjustments at critical aperture sizes (A/S(crit)).
Main Results:
- Distracted participants exhibited reduced maximum shoulder rotation at A/S(crit).
- This suggests that awareness of the action influences its execution.
- The findings indicate potential increases in movement efficiency under distraction.
Conclusions:
- Walking through apertures is largely automatic in terms of action planning.
- Distraction from the primary motor task can alter the execution of body-scaled actions.
- Reduced shoulder rotation under distraction may represent a more efficient navigation strategy.
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