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The Effect of Body Position on the Perception of Cardiac Sensations: An Experiment and Theoretical Implications
Author(s) -
Jones Gary E.,
Jones Kenneth R.,
Rouse Connie H.,
Scott D. Michael,
Caldwell John A.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1987.tb00300.x
Subject(s) - psychology , body position , heartbeat , perception , audiology , sitting , heart rate , social psychology , developmental psychology , blood pressure , physical medicine and rehabilitation , medicine , computer security , pathology , neuroscience , computer science
This paper presents the results of pilot data and a main experiment that examine the effect of differing body positions on an individual's awareness of heartbeats. The pilot experiment employed two groups of 12 male subjects each presented 50 Whitehead type heartbeat awareness trials in each of two body positions: seated and standing erect. Subjects were retained if their ability to discriminate on the Whitehead procedure exceeded 70% correct. Results showed that the standing body position led to significantly lower cardiac awareness than when the same subject was tested in a seated position. The pilot was then expanded and replicated with three groups of 7 male subjects, all chosen by performance on a seated discrimination series. Two of the groups made additional discriminations in either a standing or seated position. The third group remained seated in all three phases. Results showed that all three groups discriminated at significantly above chance levels during the initial screening, and the group that sat in all three phases remained much above chance. The other two groups showed significantly lower performance levels in the standing position. Order of presentation seemed to affect performance. These results almost exactly replicated the data obtained in the pilot experiment. Physiological measures showed parallel changes in heart period across phases but no indication of differences in respiration or mean arterial blood pressure. Results of a semantic differential type questionnaire used to evaluate the qualitative aspects of the feedback, and skinfold measures of body type are also reported. The results of these two experiments are analyzed for their theoretical implications which lead in two different directions. Most investigators have assumed the involvement of visceral afferent pathways in the mediation of visceral perception, and this is a clear possibility which, in large part, remains unexplored by systematic investigations. However, the results of a number of experiments are interpreted to indicate that the visceral sensations may be mediated through primary somatosensory pathways. A model for this feedback is discussed.