Biomechanical effects of the addition of a precision constraint on a collective load carriage task

Team lifting is a complex and collective motor task comprising motor and cognitive components. The purpose of this research is to investigate how individual and collective performances are impacted during load transport combined with a cognitive task. Ten dyads performed a first condition in which they transported a load (CC), and a second one in which they transported the load while maintaining a ball on its top (PC). The recovery-rate, amplitude and period of the centre-of-mass (COM) trajectory were computed for the system (dyad + table = PACS). We analysed the forces and moments exerted at each joint of the upper limbs of the participants. We observed a decrease in the overall performance of the dyads during PC: (i) the velocity and amplitude of CoM_PACS decreased by 1.7% and 5.8%, respectively, (ii) inter-participant variability of the Moment-Cost-Function and recovery rate decreased by 95%, and 19.2%, respectively during PC. Kinetic synergy analysis showed that the participants reorganized their coordination in the PC. We demonstrated that adding a precision task affects the economy of collective load carriage at the PACS level while the upper-limbs joint moments were better balanced across the paired participants for the PC.