title: Postural sway and perceived comfort in pointing tasks.
abstract: In this study, we explored relations between indices of postural sway and perceived comfort during pointing postures performed by standing participants. The participants stood on a force plate, grasped a pointer with the dominant (right) hand, and pointed to targets located at four positions and at two distances from the body. We quantified postural sway over 60-s intervals at each pointing posture, and found no effects of target location or distance on postural sway indices. In contrast, comfort ratings correlated significantly with indices of one of the sway components, trembling. Our observations support the hypothesis that rambling and trembling sway components involve different neurophysiological mechanisms. They also suggest that subjective perception of comfort may be more important than the actual posture for postural sway.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State University, USA; University School of Physical Education in Wroclaw, Poland. Electronic address: szs13@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Stanislaw
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Solnik
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State University, USA; Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Nemanja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pazin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, USA; Lockheed Martin, ISS Flight Crew Integration, Operational Habitability Group, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Chase J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State University, USA.
authors.forename: Vladimir M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Zatsiorsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State University, USA.
authors.forename: Mark L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Latash
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D004856:Postural Balance; D011187:Posture; D011597:Psychomotor Performance
keywords: End-state comfort; Pointing; Postural sway; Rambling; Trembling