Postural Correlates of Pollution Perception

Abstract

In our contemporary societies, environmental issues are more and more important. An increasing number of studies explore the biological processes involved in environment perception and in particular try to highlight the mechanisms underlying the perception of environmental scenes by our brain. The main objective of the present study was to establish whether the visualization of clean and polluted environmental scenes would lead to differential postural reactions. Our hypothesis was based on a differential postural modulation that could be recorded when the subject is confronted with images representing a “polluted” environment, differential modulation which has been reported in previous studies in response to painful-scenes compared to non-painful scenes visualization.Thirty-one subjects participated in this study. Physiological measurements [heart rate variability (HRV) and electrodermal activity] and postural responses (Center Of Pression—COP—displacements) were recorded in response to perception of polluted or clean environmental scenes. We show, for the first time, that images representing polluted scenes evoke a weaker approach movement than images representing clean scenes. The displacement of the COP in the anteroposterior axis reflects an avoidance when subjects visualize “polluted” scenes. Our results demonstrate a clear distinction between “clean” and “polluted” environments according to the postural change they induce, correlated with the ratings of pleasure and approach evoked by images.