The organization of the movement depends mainly on the anticipation of its sensory and emotional consequences.

Two sources of emotions influence directed actions, namely, those associated with the environment and those that are consequences of the action. The present study examines the impact of these emotions on movement preparation. It invokes theories from psychology, i.e., ideomotor theory and motor control's cognitive approach through movement analysis. In addition to their action readiness, emotions related to the environment can interfere with actions directed towards a goal. However, intentional action involves a goal that will cause satisfaction when achieved. While most studies consider each emotion's influence separately, few studies confront them to study their respective impact. In the current study, thirty-two right-handed young adults reach for a left target with a stylus that will reduce or enlarge an emotional picture that is initially present (nontarget stimulus). Kinematic analyses show that anticipating the pointing's emotional consequences impacts the final pointing position. All other results emphasize the impact of reducing or enlarging on the preparation and control of movement depending on the direction of movement. The emotional consequences of the action is a weighting factor that is relevant to the action goal and subject's intention, but it is less important than the action's visual consequences.

Age-related differences in processes organizing goal-directed locomotion toward emotional pictures.

Previous studies yielded evidence for an interaction between age and valence in numerous cognitive processes. But, to date, no research has been conducted in the field of motor skills. In this study, we examined the age-related differences in the organization of an emotionally goal-directed locomotion task. Faced with a pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral picture displayed to the side of a stop button, younger and older adults were instructed to walk toward the button (intermediate goal) and push it to turn-off the picture (final goal). Kinematic and ground reaction forces were recorded. The main findings indicated that older adults' response times (RTs) did not differ across the valence picture. The fastest RTs were found in younger adults when faced with pleasant pictures, suggesting that older people may focus either on intermediate or final goals, depending on their value of pleasantness, and prioritize positive goals. We also found that the spatial coding of locomotion (trajectory and final body position) was affected in the same way by the valence of the intermediate goal in both age groups. Taken together, these findings provide new perspectives regarding the potential role of the emotional valence of the intermediate and final goals on the cognitive processes involved in action coding, such as in mental representations of action in older adults.

When locomotion is used to interact with the environment: investigation of the link between emotions and the twofold goal-directed locomotion in humans.

Walking as a means to interact with the environment has a twofold goal: body displacement (intermediate goal) and the future action on the environment (final representational goal). This involves different processes that plan, program, and control goal-directed locomotion linked to motivation as an "emotional state," which leads to achieving this twofold goal. The aim of the present study was to determine whether emotional valence associated with the final representational goal influences these processes or whether they depend more on the emotional valence associated with the intermediate goal in young adults. Twenty subjects, aged 18-35 years, were instructed to erase an emotional picture that appeared on a wall as soon as they saw it. They had to press a stop button located 5 m in front of them with their right hand. Their gait was analyzed using a force platform and the Vicon system. The main results suggest that the emotional valence of the intermediate goal has the greatest effect on the processes that organize and modulate goal-directed locomotion. A positive valence facilitates cognitive processes involved in the temporal organization of locomotion. A negative valence disturbs the cognitive processes involved in the spatial organization of the locomotion and online motor control, leading to a deviating trajectory and a final body position that is more distant from the stop button. These results are discussed in line with the motivational direction hypothesis and with the affective meaning of the intended response goal.