Elsevier

Journal of Biomechanics

Volume 43, Issue 16, 1 December 2010, Pages 3099-3103
Journal of Biomechanics

Emotional influences on locomotor behavior

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2010.08.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Emotional responses to appetitive and aversive stimuli motivate approach and avoidance behaviors essential for survival. The purpose of the current study was to determine the impact of specific emotional stimuli on forward, approach-oriented locomotion. Steady state walking was assessed while participants walked toward pictures varying in emotional content (erotic, happy people, attack, mutilation, contamination, and neutral). Step length and step velocity were calculated for the first two steps following picture onset. Exposure to the mutilation and contamination pictures shortened the lengths of step one and step two compared to the erotic pictures. Additionally, step velocity was greater during exposure to the erotic pictures compared to (1) the contamination and mutilation pictures for step one and (2) all other picture categories for step two. These findings suggest that locomotion is facilitated when walking toward approach-oriented emotional stimuli but compromised when walking toward aversive emotional stimuli. The data extend our understanding of fundamental interactions among motivational orientations, emotional reactions, and resultant actions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Introduction

Human behavior is fundamentally motivated by the propensity to approach appetitive stimuli while avoiding aversive stimuli and situations. Emotional responses to these stimuli serve as action dispositions, directing approach and avoidance behaviors (Carver et al., 2000, Frijda, 2009, Lang et al., 1998). Pleasant emotions theoretically activate appetitive circuits that prime approach behaviors whereas unpleasant emotions activate defensive circuits that facilitate avoidance behaviors (Cacioppo et al., 1993, Centerbar and Clore, 2006, Chen and Bargh, 1999). How interactions of approach and avoidance oriented emotions and behavioral outcome manifest in overt movement alterations, however, remains largely unspecified.

Attempts to address such theoretical notions have been limited by empirical investigations using a small range of upper extremity movements (e.g., flexion vs. extension) that do not clearly represent directional behaviors (Eder and Rothermund, 2008, Lavender and Hommel, 2007). Furthermore, such findings have been exclusively based on simple reaction time measures that fail to capture the complexity of human motor function. In contrast to the upper extremity tasks that have been implemented to date, whole body movements can be manipulated to yield clear approach and avoidance actions, thereby permitting direct evaluation of theoretical postulates. Herein, we sought to determine how an unambiguous approach oriented whole body movement, specifically forward locomotion, was altered under different emotional conditions that theoretically motivate directionally opposite action tendencies. This unique approach permitted us to explicitly evaluate fundamental interactions of motivational orientations, emotional state, and resultant actions.

Naugle et al. (in review) recently investigated the influence of emotional state on forward gait initiation. Participants initiated gait in response to the offset of pleasant and unpleasant valenced emotional stimuli and continued to walk toward the location of the presented stimuli. Exposure to the pleasantly valenced stimuli compared to unpleasant stimuli facilitated the anticipatory postural adjustments needed to initiate forward gait and increased the velocity of the first step. However, exposure to highly arousing unpleasantly valenced (attack) stimuli speeded the initial motor response, despite the movement being clearly approach-oriented. This finding supports the notion that faster movements, regardless of movement direction, are primed in threatening situations. (Coombes et al., 2007b, Coombes et al., 2009). The result also clearly illustrates how sole reliance on reaction time measures, as in prior work, may produce misleading conclusions (i.e., unpleasant cues facilitate approach behaviors). While Naugle et al.’s work addressed the question of how emotional conditions affect the planning of the initiation of forward gait, whether emotion impacts the regulation of ongoing gait remains unknown.

A controversial issue in the emotion and movement literature involves the congruence of unpleasant stimuli with withdrawal motivation. Much of the extant data has been confounded by the errant assumption that approach and withdrawal responses are driven solely by emotional valence. The evidence against this assumptions is clearly exemplified in several lines of research showing that anger, although negative in valence, elicits approach motivational tendencies (see Carver and Harmon-Jones, 2009 for review). Additionally, confusion exists regarding the categorization of certain emotions, such as fear. Although fear is generally associated with a withdrawal response, it can also elicit approach to safe places or an approach-related “fight” response to threatening stimuli (Blanchard and Blanchard, 1994). As such, categorization of affective stimuli into emotion-specific categories, (i.e., attack, mutilation, and contamination) rather than broad valenced categories (pleasant, unpleasant), is essential for a comprehensive understanding of how emotion influences approach/avoidance movement.

The purpose of the current study was to determine how exposure to specific emotional stimuli impacts the regulation of steady state forward, approach-oriented locomotion. To achieve this aim, locomotor parameters associated with steady state walking were assessed while participants walked toward pictures varying in emotional content. We hypothesized that exposure to the approach-oriented pictures of erotica and happy people would facilitate forward locomotion as evidenced by enhanced step length and velocity compared to the contamination, mutilation, and attack pictures. We also predicted that exposure to contamination and mutilation pictures (the unpleasant pictures likely invoking the strongest withdrawal motivation) would compromise forward locomotion as indexed by reduced step length and velocity relative to images of erotica and happy people.

Section snippets

Participants

Thirty-four undergraduate students (17 males, M age=20.35, SD=1.17; 17 females, M age=20.12, SD=1.05) participated in this study. All participants reported no lower extremity injuries in the past six months that would affect movement and reported moderate to low levels of trait anxiety [State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI: Spielberger, 1983): males=33.18, SD=7.80; females=29.65, SD=4.77]. Three participants who were behavioral outliers (i.e., 3 SD from the mean for each picture category) were

Results

All three MANOVAs detected significant effects of picture category [(1) step length bias score: Wilks’ Lambda=.773, F(12, 312.49)=2.66, p=.002, η²=.082; (2) average step velocity bias score: Wilks’ Lambda=.841, F(8, 246)=2.77, p=.006, η²=.083; and (3) instantaneous step velocity bias score: Wilks’ Lambda=.764, F(8, 246)=4.43, p<.001, η²=.126]. Table 1 presents summary data for the first and second step for each picture category.

Discussion

The goal of the current study was to determine how exposure to specific emotional stimuli affects forward locomotion. The implementation of a protocol involving voluntary, whole body movements allows direct evaluation of the influence of emotional reactivity on approach-oriented behavior. Two principle findings emerged from the data. First, viewing intensely pleasant pictures thought to elicit approach orientations enhanced step velocity during forward walking. Second, viewing unpleasant

Conflict of interest statement

The authors of this manuscript do not have any financial or personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence their work.

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