Effects of light finger touch on the regularity of center-of-pressure fluctuations during quiet bipedal and single-leg postural tasks

Background: The use of extra sources of sensory information associated with light fingertip touch to enhance postural steadiness has been associated with increased attentional demands, whereas the regularity of center of pressure (COP) fluctuations has been interpreted as a marker of the amount of attention invested in posture control. Research question: This study addressed whether increased attentional demands associated with postural tasks involving light finger touch might be reflected by measures of COP regularity. Methods: The experiments involved quiet bipedal stance (n = 8 participants) and single-legged stance (n = 14 participants). Each participant was instructed to stand as quietly as possible on a force plate, either touching an external rigid surface (applied force < 1 N, light touch condition), or not (no touch condition). Postural steadiness was assessed by traditional COP measurements (COP Area, RMS, and velocity), whereas the regularity of postural sway was based on estimates of the sample entropy (SaEn) of the COP time series. Results: Traditional parameters of postural sway and COP regularity (inversely related to SaEn COP measurements) were reduced during the touch conditions as compared to the no-touch conditions, for both bipedal quiet stance and single-legged stance. Decreased COP regularity with light touch was mainly reflected in the direction of the largest postural sway (i.e. in the sagittal plane for bipedal stance and in the frontal plane for single-legged stance). Significance: The present results suggest that actively touching an external surface with the fingertip, besides increasing postural steadiness, generated an externally oriented (presumably cognitive-dependent) focus of attention, so that participants invested less attention on the postural task per se (as suggested by increased SaEn), which might be associated with a more automatic control of posture.

Automated summary

This study investigated whether postural tasks involving light fingertip touch would increase attentional demands, and if so, whether it would be reflected in measures of COP regularity. The results showed that postural steadiness and COP regularity were reduced during touch conditions compared to no-touch conditions, suggesting that actively touching an external surface with the fingertip might generate an externally oriented focus of attention, leading to a more automatic control of posture.