Standing enhances cognitive control and alters visual search

Abstract

Postural changes and the maintenance of postural stability have been shown to affect many aspects of cognition. Here we examined the extent to which selective visual attention may differ between standing and seated postures in three tasks: the Stroop color-word task, a task-switching paradigm, and visual search. We found reduced Stroop interference, a reduction in switch costs, and slower search rates in the visual search task when participants stood compared to when they sat while performing the tasks. The results suggest that the postural demands associated with standing enhance cognitive control, revealing broad connections between body posture and cognitive mechanisms.

Does Posture Influence the Stroop Effect?

“…As we briefly mentioned in the introduction, an additional study reported by Smith et al (2019) found an influence of posture on the magnitude of the Stroop effect, consistent with the findings of Rosenbaum et al (2017). The obvious question is this: How does Smith et al’s successful replication fit with our present failures to replicate Rosenbaum et al’s findings?…”

“…Experiment 5 was preregistered and conducted at the University of Waterloo following an initial review of a manuscript containing the first four experiments. We also note that while our manuscript was under review, we learned of a recent replication of Rosenbaum et al’s findings by Smith, Davoli, Knapp, and Abrams (2019). We briefly address this replication in the General Discussion.…”

“…An independent attempt at a replication of Rosenbaum et al’s (2017) results was also initiated at Trent University (Experiments 3 and 4). In Experiment 3, participants were required to make manual responses, which also happened to be the response mode used by Smith et al (2019) in their replication of Rosenbaum et al’s work.…”

“…There is a bright side to our failure to replicate Rosenbaum et al’s (2017) and Smith et al’s (2019) findings. The originally reported effect might have implied that, relative to sitting, standing increases load; such an increased load could result in poorer performance in various everyday tasks (e.g., slow reading rate).…”

Transforming Thoughts with Postural Awareness to Increase Therapeutic and Teaching Efficacy

“…While the elaborated experiments related to manipulating various postures by psychotherapy conditions is beyond the scope of this article, as was already mentioned, sitting posture should not be the only body posture option in therapy. For example, Smith, Davoli, Knapp, and Abrams (2019) showed that standing enhances cognitive control and alters visual search, compared to sitting positions.…”