Sound changes perception of movements and vision

Shot-putters shout as they put their shots. It has been reported in the field of sport psychology that it helps to exert great force when one grunts. Human perception and the cognitive system have an intriguing relationship with the body. Professor Masayoshi Nagai, College of Comprehensive Psychology, is interested in how human information processing systems, such as perception and cognition, could be modulated on bodily states, emotions, or communication with others. One such study was about people with autistic traits and the degree of their stepping-cycle synchronicity. “Have you ever found yourself in situations where you were automatically synchronizing the strides of someone walking beside you? It is known that behavior and emotions tend to spread between people (through mimicry) and cause unconscious synchronization. However, those who have higher autistic traits hardly ever synchronize their steps with others,” says Nagai. Furthermore, Nagai examined how the extent of movements influences the creative thought process and found that the larger the movement, the greater was divergent creativity. Besides, he has also pointed out the varying relationships among perception, cognition, and muscle response or vocalization, such as how physical movements become greater with louder vocalization.