title: Head movement measurement: An alternative method for posturography studies.
abstract: The present study evaluated the measurement of head movements as a valid method for postural emotional studies using the comparison of simultaneous recording of center of pressure (COP) sway as criterion. Thirty female students viewed a set of 12 pleasant, 12 unpleasant and 12 neutral pictures from the International Affective Picture System, repeated twice, using a block presentation procedure while standing on a force platform (AMTI AccuSway). Head movements were recorded using a webcam (©KPC139E) located in the ceiling in line with the force platform and a light-emitting diode (LED) placed on the top of the head. Open source software (CvMob 3.1) was used to process the data. High indices of correlation and coherence between head and COP sway were observed. In addition, pleasant pictures, compared with unpleasant pictures, elicited greater body sway in the anterior-posterior axis, suggesting an approach response to appetitive stimuli. Thus, the measurement of head movement can be an alternative or complementary method to recording COP for studying human postural changes.
authors.affiliation: Human Psychophysiology and Health Group, Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center-CIMCYC, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Ciria
authors.affiliation: Human Psychophysiology and Health Group, Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center-CIMCYC, University of Granada, Spain. Electronic address: mamuoz@ugr.es.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Research Institute oF Health Sciences (IUNICS), University of Balearic Islands (UIB), Palma, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gea
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peña
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics of the Earth and the Environment, Instituto de Fisica Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: J G V
authors.initials: JGV
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.affiliation: Research Institute oF Health Sciences (IUNICS), University of Balearic Islands (UIB), Palma, Spain.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Montoya
authors.affiliation: Human Psychophysiology and Health Group, Mind, Brain and Behavior Research Center-CIMCYC, University of Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vila
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D019416:Head Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D004856:Postural Balance; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Approach; Center of pressure; Emotion; Head movement; Posturography