Effect of stress on hand movement in a laboratory setting of high school students - preliminary research

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of stress on movement before and after a computer application- based simulated stress task. Methods. Differences in the movement of participants were examined by measuring movement quality described by wrist accumulated distance, velocity, acceleration, jerk, and smoothness. Ten high school students performed 3 horizontal and vertical hand circling movements before and after a simulated concentration-based stress task. Blood pressure was measured, and a saliva sample was collected before and after the stress test execution. The participants were instructed to take a 10-minute relaxation period, perform 3 horizontal and vertical circling movements, a 20-minute stress task, and then perform 3 horizontal and vertical movements. Results. There were significant differences between before- and after-stress-task levels of cortisol (p < 0.05), heart rate (p < 0.01), smoothness (p < 0.01), and jerk movements (p < 0.05) in the vertical plane. The stress-related variables were lower after the relaxation phase than the stress task. Likewise, movements were smoother and had less jerk in the vertical plane after relaxation. Conclusions. This study indicates that stress may affect hand movement quality in the vertical plane. Therefore, we recommend that any movement behaviour adaptive therapy should focus on movements in the vertical plane.