The effect of script-driven emotional imagery on postural control in healthy individuals

Although emotions and postural control are strongly intertwined, more research is necessary to understand this intricate relationship. Therefore, we examined the effect of script-driven emotional imagery on postural control in healthy individuals.

Forty-four healthy participants (50 % female, median age=27) imagined three emotional imagery scripts (hostile, acceptance, relaxation) in upright standing without visual input while center of pressure (CoP) was measured (mean sway, sway velocity, , and standard deviation in antero-posterior and medio-lateral directions, and sway path and area). After each script, valence, arousal, and dominance were rated with the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) to check whether emotion induction was successful. Effects of emotional imagery on CoP and SAM were analyzed through mixed models.

Emotions were successfully induced; participants felt less pleasant (p < 0.0001), more aroused (p < 0.0001), and less in control (p < 0.0001) during hostile compared to acceptance and relaxation scripts. Inducing emotions did not affect CoP (p > 0.05), with the exception of antero-posterior CoP sway, which was significantly smaller during relaxation compared to acceptance scripts (p = 0.04).

Although emotions were successfully induced, they minimally affected postural control in healthy individuals.

These findings suggest that healthy individuals may adopt flexible postural compensation strategies to successfully adjust for emotion-induced perturbations.