Muscle test comparisons of congruent and incongruent self-referential statements

This study investigated differences in values of manual muscle tests after exposure to congruent and incongruent semantic stimuli. Muscle testing with a computerized dynamometer was performed on the deltoid muscle group of 89 healthy college students after repetitions of congruent (true) and incongr uent (false) self-referential statements. The order in which statements wer e repeated was controlled Ly a counterbalanced design. The combined data sh owed that approximately 17% more total force over a 59% longer period of ri me could be endured when subjects repeated semantically congruent statement s (p < .001). Order effects were nor significant. Or-rr-all, significant di fferences were found in muscle-rest responses between congruent and incongr uent semantic stimuli.