Effect of the visualization of geometrical shapes on the performance of a complex motor act

Abstract

Several studies have shown that the observation of a motor action activates cerebral cortical motor areas involved in the execution of the action itself and further sustained the suggestion that the visualisation of a motor act might improve the same movement in the observer. The hypothesis was advanced that the stimulus in the observation of a motor action might be the 'movement' rather than the human figure realizing the action. The present experiments were devised to test whether simple geometrical shapes might have an influence on the performance of a complex motor act the squat vertical jump (SVJ). Two series of 2D objects (“circle, square, cylinder” and “heart, ring, star”) were shown to 3 groups of naïve male (M) (n=15 for each group) and 3 groups of naïve females (F) subjects (same cohorts). Group 1 visualized immobile shapes while groups group 2 saw forms moving up-bottom and group 3 bottom-up. Groups M1, M2, F1, and F2 showed no significant improvement in the heights of jump. In group M3 the series circle improved significantly the height of the SVJ (+2.1 cm, P< 0.003), while the series heart showed no significance (+1.0 cm, p=0.3). The other groups (fixed or up-bottom) the height did not change (p=0.2-1.0). Group F3 significantly improved its SVJ performance after both series of images (series circle, +1.2 cm, p=0.006; series heart +1.1 cm, p=0.006). The results show that the performance of a complex motor action, the SVJ, might have been improved by the simple visualisation of 2D geometrical shapes, only if these were in congruent movement (bottom-up). Female subjects apparently performed better than the male counterparts as they improved similarly the height of the SVJ with both experimental series of shapes (“circle, square, cylinder” and “heart, ring, star”), again only when these were moving bottom-up.