Open Access

Embodiment theories have proposed a reciprocal relationship between emotional state and bodily reactions. Besides large body postures, recent studies have found emotions to affect rather subtle bodily expressions, such as slumped or upright sitting posture. This study investigated back muscle activity as an indication of an effect of positive and negative emotions on the sitting position. The electromyography (EMG) activity of six back muscles was recorded in 31 healthy subjects during exposure to positive and negative affective pictures. A resting period was used as a control condition. Increased muscle activity patterns in the back were found during the exposure to negative emotional stimuli, which was mainly measured in the lumbar and thorax regions. The positive emotion condition caused no elevated activity. The findings show that negative emotions lead to increased differential muscle activity in the back and thus corroborate those of previous research that emotion affects subtle bodily expressions.

Gemeinsam Klug Entscheiden ist eine Initiative der AWMF und ihrer Fachgesellschaften, mit dem Ziel, Empfehlungen zu Versorgungsaspek- ten in die Versorgung zu bringen, für die ein großes Verbesserungspoten- tial besteht. Der Impuls dafür wurde durch die TOP-5-Listen der Choosing Wisely Kampagne gegeben. Ziel des Posters ist es das Vorgehen und die Methodik für eine evidenzbasierte Entwicklung bekannt zu machen und zu diskutieren im Hinblick auf Machbarkeit und Verbesserungspotential.