title: Effects of attentional strategies and anxiety constraints on perceptual-motor organisation of rhythmical arm movements.
abstract: Effects of anxiety on perceptual-motor organisation of rhythmical forearm movements were examined using an interrupted time series design with staggered baselines. Participants were exposed to repeated baseline sessions interrupted with two anxiety-inducing sessions. Results showed that under moderate levels of anxiety, determined from CSAI-2 and heart rate data, phase relations between oscillating forearms became more stable in in-phase (0 degrees ) and anti-phase (180 degrees ) modes, although these patterns were not maintained in baseline sessions following the anxiety manipulation. Data were consistent with participants employing a strategy of allocating greater attentional effort in stabilizing preferred co-ordination patterns under anxiety-inducing conditions. Results suggest that anxiety can temporarily act as a source of behavioural information, leading to the re-parameterisation of participants' intrinsic dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Dunedin University, New Zealand.
authors.forename: M L J
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Court
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Davids
mesh_terms: D000204:Activity Cycles; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety; D001132:Arm / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors