Adaptive Force and emotionally related imaginations – preliminary results suggest a reduction of the maximal holding capacity as reaction to disgusting food imagination

The link between emotions and motor control has been discussed for years. The measurement of the Adaptive Force (AF) provides the possibility to get insights into the adaptive control of the neuromuscular system in reaction to external forces. It was hypothesized that the holding isometric AF is especially vulnerable to disturbing inputs. Here, the behavior of the AF under the influence of positive (tasty) vs. negative (disgusting) food imaginations was investigated. The AF was examined in n = 12 cases using an objectified manual muscle test of the hip flexors, elbow flexors or pectoralis major muscle, performed by one of two experienced testers while the participants imagined their most tasty or most disgusting food. The reaction force and the limb position were measured by a handheld device. While the slope of force rises and the maximal AF did not differ significantly between tasty and disgusting imaginations (p > 0.05), the maximal isometric AF was significantly lower and the AF at the onset of oscillations was significantly higher under disgusting vs. tasty imaginations (both p = 0.001). A proper length tension control of muscles seems to be a crucial functional parameter of the neuromuscular system which can be impaired instantaneously by emotionally related negative imaginations. This might be a potential approach to evaluate somatic reactions to emotions.