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Published online: 1 May 2019
© The Psychonomic Society, Inc. 2019
Abstract
Postural changes and the maintenance of postural stability have been shown to affect many aspects of cognition. Here we examined the extent to which selective visual attention may differ between standing and seated postures in three tasks: the Stroop color-word task, a task-switching paradigm, and visual search. We found reduced Stroop interference, a reduction in switch costs, and slower search rates in the visual search task when participants stood compared to when they sat while performing the tasks. The results suggest that the postural demands associated with standing enhance cognitive control, revealing broad connections between body posture and cognitive mechanisms.
Keywords Cognitive and attentional control . Embodied perception . Attention and executive control
Introduction
Recent investigations have revealed the importance of considering the effect of bodily states and movements on cognition. For instance, cognitive processes like preference judgments (Beilock & Holt, 2007; Ramsøy, Jacobsen, Friis-Olivarius, Bagdziunaite, & Skov, 2017), language comprehension (Fischer & Zwaan, 2008; Zwaan, 2014), memory (Canits, Pecher, & Zeelenberg, 2018; Glenberg, 1997), selfevaluation (Briñol, Petty, & Wagner, 2009), creativity (Andolfi, Di Nuzzo, & Antonietti, 2017; Hao, Xue, Yuan, Wang, & Runco, 2017), and problem solving (Ma, 2017; Thomas & Lleras, 2007) are all strongly influenced by how we use our bodies to interact with the world. Visual information processing, including visual search and change detection, is also affected by the actions we plan and execute (Bekkering & Neggers, 2002; Glenberg, Witt, & Metcalfe, 2013; Tseng et al., 2010; Vishton et al., 2007; Wohlschläger, 2000), and visual perception changes to reflect our physiological states and ability to act (for reviews, see Proffitt, 2006 and Witt, 2011) as well as the relatively stable dimensions of the body, including body size (Stefanucci & Geuss, 2009). Even the proximity with which the hands are held to a visual stimulus can alter how it is perceived, attended, remembered, and processed for meaning (e.g., Abrams, Davoli, Du, Knapp, & Paull, 2008; Cosman & Vecera, 2010; Davoli, Du, Montana, Garverick, & Abrams, 2010; Reed, Grubb, & Steele, 2006; Tseng & Bridgeman, 2011). Taken together, the findings suggest rich interconnections between cognition and the control of the body.
One particularly important body process is the control of...