Bodily Perception in the Organization of Postural Attitude and Movement

Abstract

In the present research we hypothesized that some particular areas or points of the body play a role in the modulation of muscular (tonic and phasic) activity. In particular, we hypothesized that subjects utilize some bodily points as constant perceptual afferences in organizing the motoric responses of the whole body. The bodily points (called perceptual focal points) could have the same role as the bow of a boat for the sailor in orienting the spatial position of the boat and its movement. We have observed the presence of these perceptual focal points in 85% of a group of undergraduate students of psychology, 21 women and 19 men, during a real and an imagined movement of the whole body. Results indicated also that, if subjects were told to modify their habitual focal points, important modifications in subjective feelings of instability, pleasure, and tension appeared.