It is said that the manifestation of movement is carried out through the stages of "affection/emotion -> intention -> planning -> execution", and emotion and movement are inseparably related.Humans are required to take optimal exercise behavior and demonstrate target performance in the midst of various psychological changes.It is empirically well known that negative emotions generally impede performance, while positive emotions improve performance.
For example, when you feel anxiety or fear, your body may become stiff, and you may not be able to move as you envisioned, and your movements may become awkward.Lecturer Fumino and Assistant Professor Onigata of the Department of Physical Therapy, Kansai University of Health Sciences, examined this phenomenon neurophysiologically in previous research, and found that negative emotions increase the excitability of the spinal cord motor nerves that control movement. It was shown that emotions can change the state of motor nerves and muscles (Onigata & Bunno, Somatosensory & Motor Research, 2020).
This time, Lecturer Fumino and his colleagues wondered if this knowledge could be applied to physical therapy.BACKGROUND ART In daily life, there are many situations in which pinching motions, so-called pinch motions, are used with the thumb and forefinger, such as unfastening buttons, using chopsticks, and gripping coins.When performing a pinch motion, the ability to adjust muscle contraction according to the shape, size, hardness, and weight of the object is required.It goes without saying that finer control is required when the object is soft, such as tofu, and it is important to acquire the ability to adjust the pinching force.Therefore, we investigated the effect of positive emotions on the motor function of the fingers.
Specifically, we compared how much pinch force could be maintained for 10 seconds before and after the intervention.The intervention consisted of observing an image that elicited positive emotions for 30 seconds.As a control, they were asked to observe a non-emotional image for 30 seconds.As a result, it was revealed that positive emotion improved the ability to regulate the force of pinching with the thumb and forefinger compared to the condition in which no emotion was elicited.
In order to increase the effect of physical therapy, it is important to consider not only the physical state but also the subject's emotional state.
Paper information:[Frontiers in Psychology] Influence of emotion on precision grip force control: A comparison of pleasant and neutral emotion
