Dynamic postural control and associated attentional demands in contemporary dancers versus non-dancers.
Postural control is not a fully automatic process, but requires a certain level of attention, particularly as the difficulty of the postural task increases. This study aimed at testing whether experienced contemporary dancers, because of their specialized training involving the control of posture/balance, would present with a dual-task performance suggesting lesser attentional demands associated with dynamic postural control compared with non-dancers. Twenty dancers and 16 non-dancers performed a dynamic postural tracking task in both antero-posterior and side-to-side directions, while standing on a force platform. The postural task was performed, in turn, 1) as a stand-alone task, and concurrently with both 2) a simple reaction time task and 3) a choice reaction time task. Postural control performance was estimated through variables calculated from centre of pressure movements. Although no overall group difference was found in reaction time values, we found a better ability to control the side to side movements of the centre of pressure during the tracking task in dancers compared with non-dancers, which was dependent on the secondary task. This suggests that such increased ability is influenced by available attentional resources.
School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.|Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
Geneviève
G
Sirois-Leclerc
Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada.
Anthony
A
Remaud
School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.|Bruyère Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada.|School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.
Martin
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8464-8837
M
Bilodeau
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D003615:Dancing / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult