Abstract
Most human movement research takes place within controlled laboratories where researchers observe participant movement. Because a majority of daily activity is performed without observation, we hypothesized movement within a laboratory would vary when there was a small, large or absence of research group. We also hypothesized that personality type would influence movement during observation. Participants completed a personality questionnaire, then walked in a laboratory during three different conditions: no research group (no researchers), small research group (2 researchers), and large research group (6–10 researchers). Results revealed spatiotemporal parameters were altered between conditions, however personality type did not influence changes in movement. As the number of researchers increased, gait speed, cadence, and stride length increased, and step duration decreased. Gait speed increased by .03 m/s from the no research group to the small research group, by .06 m/s from the no research group to the large research group, and by .03 m/s from the small to large research group (all p values < .001). Understanding how researcher observation modifies movement is important and affects the replicability of results, as well as the interpretation of laboratory-based movement studies to activities of daily living in real world settings.
Highlights
Most human movement research takes place within controlled laboratories where researchers observe participant movement
This study aimed to examine the influence of researcher observation on spatiotemporal parameters during gait
Our main findings reveal that: (1) the number of researchers significantly influenced spatiotemporal parameters of gait, importantly gait speed, (2) the large research group had the greatest impact on spatiotemporal parameters compared to the no research group, (3) spatiotemporal parameters changed significantly from the first to the last few strides within each research group and (4) personality measures were not related to gait performance during different research group conditions
Summary
Most human movement research takes place within controlled laboratories where researchers observe participant movement. Assuming gait performance in an observational setting, such as a doctor’s office, rehabilitation clinic, or research laboratory mimics real-world walking may not be accurate. This oversight can result in misdiagnosis of comorbidities and disease, as well as therapeutic prescriptions, which regularly depend on gait speed and other gait parameters for at-risk identification[5,6]. Research has shown that the feeling of being judged, evaluated, or having one’s actions approved or disapproved by observers may lead to alterations in m ovement[10] This environment of judgment and scrutiny is often unintentionally created when gait is assessed in front of a group of researchers. Awareness of data collection affected gait kinematics during individual versus
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