Personality and inter-subject differences in performance and physiological cost during whole-body vibration

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Abstract
When subjects are exposed to whole-body vibration, extra effort is required to maintain pre-vibration standards of performance. Therefore the willingness of subjects to expend this effort might influence both performance and physiological cost. Willingness may be related to a personality variable-score on the locus of control scale. This hypothesis was tested in 12 subjects who performed a simulated driving task during 10 min of vertical (±Gz) whole-body vibration at energy levels of 021,0-28 and 0-35 r.m.s.g using a sinusoidal and a random waveform. Accuracy at a foot-controlled, compensatory tracking task, reaction time, oxygen uptake and heart rate were measured. Subjects with an ‘internal’ locus of control had less tracking error(p<0.001)and higher heart rates (p<0.05) than did subjects with an ‘external’ locus of control. Furthermore, both variables were significantly correlated with the locus of control scores (r= +0.73 and —0.66) respectively. These findings suggest that the inter-subject differences found in investigations using human subjects may be explained in part by personality differences related to locus of control.