2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Social psychophysiology on control of emotion and modality of sensation in communication.
| Project/Area Number |
15530407
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Social psychology
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| Research Institution | Nihon University |
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Principal Investigator |
WADA Maki Nihon University, College of Law, Professor, 法学部, 教授 (30210983)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
NAGAI Masanori Yamanashi Institute of Environmental Science, Head Researcher, 環境生理学研究室, 研究室長 (40110027)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
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| Keywords | Anxiety / Postural control / Body sway / Visual sensory processing / Social psychophysiology / Emotion regulation |
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| Research Abstract |
The standing posture is maintained by the integration of sensory functions with different modalities, i.e. visual, vestibular, and somatosensory functions. We have previously found that anxiety influences the frequency component of body sway (BS) of the antero-posterior axis in college students during orthostatic standing while gazing at a visual cue in front of them (Wada et al., 2001). The influence of anxiety on BS is observed in participants standing with their eyes open, but diminished with eyes closed. Therefore, we have hypothesized that the degree of anxiety affects the processing of visual information and/or the interaction between visual input and other two sensory inputs in standing humans. Furthermore, the possibility has been raised that humans with higher anxiety perceive the spacial distance, including the cognition of interpersonal distance, in a different manner from that of humans with lower anxiety. Our experiment employing the within-subject design has shown that the degree of anxiety positively correlates with the maximum length of the antero-posterior BS and thus the total area of BS in the same persons (Ohno et al., 2004, 2005). These influences of anxiety on the performance of BS are also diminished when eyes are closed. In 2004, we have examined the effect of exchanging the visual cue from external landmark to internal one. Mental arithmetic is carried out by viewing the internal tables. Therefore, we have observed the effects of anxiety on BS during mental arithmetic with eyes open. No influence of anxiety has been observed in BS with mental arithmetic. This result shows that the processing of visual input from the external milieu is essential for anxiety to influence the postural balance. Our experiment in 2005 has shown that anxiety does not influence the antero-posterior BS induced by an electrical stimulation of the vestibular organs.
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