Supervisors info:
Ρουσάνογλου Ελισσάβετ, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, ΣΕΦΑΑ-ΕΚΠΑ
Μπουντόλος Κ. Καθηγητής, ΣΕΦΑΑ-ΕΚΠΑ
Γεωργάκη Α. Καθηγήτρια, Μουσικών Σπουδών-ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Introduction: The pulse of a musical auditory stimulus (AS) is considered as the most essential element with regard to the AS positive effect on movement through the process of motor-auditory entrainment, either as an ergogenic aid during exercise or as a tool of therapeutic intervention in motor control impairments. However, the effect of the AS pulse discrimination on movement stability remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of (AS) with and without a distinct pulse (DP) on static and dynamic stability.
Method: Twenty healthy women (Age: 23.72 ± 2.25yrs, Body height: 1.68±0.04 m, Body weight: 59.5±5.76 kg and BMI: 21.2±2 kg/m2), participated in the study. All participants were submitted to three different 70-second tests, of which the two regarded spontaneous body sway during upright bipedal stance with feet at parallel and tandem configuration. The third test regarded whole-body intentional anteroposterior sway with feet at a parallel configuration. The AS was provided through headphones in three different sound conditions: (A) absence of AS, (B) musical AS with a distinct pulse, and (C) musical AS with a non-distinct pulse. Participants stood barefoot on a force platform (Kistler, 9286AA, 100 Hz) and the trajectory of the center of pressure (COP) was recorded. Simultaneously, an inertial sensor positioned on the participant’s posterior trunk at the L4-L5 lever (center of mass approximation) was used to collect data about the center of mass (COM) trajectory. Two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (followed by pairwise comparisons between AS conditions with Bonferroni correction) was used for statistics (p ≤ 0.05, SPSS 24.0). Results: The AS effect was not significant for the COP and the COM variables during spontaneous body sway (p > 0.05). During the intentional body sway, the effect of the AS and the degree of pulse discrimination was significant for the increased COP velocity, as well as the decreased duration of movement cycle duration and the increased frequency of movement calculated either by the COP data or by the COM data.
Conclusions: In conclusion, the changes in the COP and the COM variables indicate a reduction of stability during spontaneous and intentional body sway under the AS conditions. However, the differences were significant only for the intentional body sway. The effect of pulse discrimination as well as of other musical features in static or dynamic stability is a promising research area with limited research information. The perspective of practical application of similar findings may contribute to the improvement or restoration of postural control.
Keywords:
music auditory stimulus, pulse discrimination, movement entrainment, stability
