Dose-response effects of sonified movement instability on perceptual-motor regulation in ballet dancers with body image vulnerability

Abstract Human sensorimotor control relies on detecting and regulating subtle movement fluctuations. Sonification, mapping these fluctuations into sound, makes normally imperceptible micro-instabilities accessible and supports real-time perceptual–motor regulation. However, it remains unclear how much feedback is beneficial, for whom, and under what conditions. In particular, body-image-related vulnerability may influence responses to such feedback. This study examined how different rates of auditory feedback on movement instability, treated as doses of sonification, affect perceptual–motor regulation in young adult ballet dancers classified into exploratory Low- and High-Vulnerability profiles. Twenty-two participants performed a standardized ballet sequence under three conditions: Active Control (ambience-only), Low-rate sonification (+2 SD threshold in changes in jerk), and High-rate sonification (+1 SD threshold). Micro-instabilities were detected in real time. Outcomes combined subjective measures of body experience (awareness, control, flexibility, and lightness) with objective measures of elbow-level movement instability (Instability Frequency and Cumulative Instability Duration). Results showed systematic differences across the tested feedback-density conditions. Low-rate sonification was generally associated with more favorable subjective body-experience ratings and lower movement-instability measures than High-rate sonification, with several outcomes showing non-monotonic patterns across the three tested Dose conditions.