Emotional states affect steady state walking performance

Area of Science:

• Biomechanics
• Psychology
• Human Movement Science

Background:

• Gait is a key indicator of overall health, influenced by various factors like age and disease.
• The impact of emotional states on gait patterns remains under-researched.
• Understanding emotional influences on gait is crucial for comprehensive health assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how induced emotional states affect specific gait parameters.
• To determine if emotional states should be considered as confounding variables in gait analysis.
• To explore the relationship between emotional induction and objective measures of walking performance.

Main Methods:

• Thirty-six young adults participated in a controlled walking experiment.
• Emotional states were induced using immersive 360-degree videos and virtual reality head-mounted displays (HMD).
• Gait parameters were measured using a pressure sensor walkway before and after emotional induction.

Main Results:

• Sadness significantly reduced step length and walking speed compared to neutral and other emotional states.
• Sadness led to increased step, stance, and swing times.
• Excitement and fear conditions showed reduced step time compared to the neutral condition.

Conclusions:

• Emotional states, particularly sadness and excitement, demonstrably alter gait parameters related to pace and rhythm.
• Gait variability and postural control appear less affected by emotional states.
• The findings highlight the importance of considering emotional states as potential confounds in future gait research.