Effects of posture regulation on mood states, heart rate and test performance in children

Abstract

This experiment aimed to investigate the effects of seated posture regulation on children’s psychological and physiological state and test performance. Thirty-eight boys (mean age: 12.3 ± 0.53 years) participated in both upright and normal posture conditions in a within-participants design. Participants completed a two-dimensional mood scale to measure psychological mood states and performed three tests (calculation, listening comprehension and word memory). Heart rate, as an index of physiological arousal state, was measured. Upright posture resulted in greater vitality and pleasure, as well as increased heart rate, compared with normal posture. Upright posture also led to significantly higher scores for calculation and listening comprehension tests. Moreover, increases in vitality level positively influenced increases in calculation and listening comprehension test scores. This study suggests that adopting an upright posture results in maintaining a positive psychological state and improving test performance of children.

KEYWORDS:

• Posture
• mood
• test performance
• self-regulation
• body-mind connection

Acknowledgements

The study reported here formed part of the first author’s master’s thesis, and this was presented at the 31st international Congress of Psychology, Yokohama, July 2016.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Science Research from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (26560329).