Effect of mental calculus on the performance of complex movements

Abstract

Several results have suggested that the performance of numerical and arithmetical tasks may be influenced by segmental and/or whole-body movements. The reverse influence of such tasks on motor performance remained however to be fully clarified especially in the case of maximal-intensity complex movements. In the present study this possibility has been approached by two series of experiments studying the effects of number reading and mental subtraction on the height of a squat vertical jump (SVJ) and on the response time of a manual-pointing task (MPT). In each series these effects have been examined in separate experiments using numbers written as words and in Arabic digits. The obtained data have been analyzed using a multilevel linear mixed-effect model. The results have shown a moderate increase of SVJ height (although statistically significant: p < .05) after number reading as words and a clearcut increase of both MPT and SVJ performance after mental subtraction with Arabic digits (p < .001). In the latter the representation of number space might favor an attentional focus on the optimal direction to be kept during motor performance. The results will also be discussed, as suggested by the literature, on the basis of a possible functional activation of cerebral mechanisms involved in a memory specific to Arabic digits during calculation.