Response – Letter

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Applied Ergonomics

Volume

41

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Date

6-1-2009

First Page

175

Abstract

Dear Editor

We thank Dr. Lowe and colleagues for their comments regarding our recent article (Bressel et al., 2009). In their letter, they express concerns over the acute stability results for the nose-less seat condition and feel that our results may deter people from trying a nose-less seat. They note that had participants been given time to adapt, their perceptions of stability may change. This is not an original idea; we clearly state in the paper on page 476 that “our study examined acute responses and that had subjects trained with the complete cutout (nose-less) seat or been given time to adapt they may have responded differently to the perceived stability scale.” We also conclude on page 476 that: “Future studies that provide an adaptation period and one that compares a cyclist's handling and manoeuvrability with different saddles designs may be warranted.” We agree that a longer adaptation period may change a person's perception of stability; however, we disagree with the premise that initial perceptions are not valuable and are misleading in an ergonomic assessment. Aside from the fact that acute responses justify the need for longitudinal studies, initial perceptions (e.g., of comfort) can be reliable predictors of long term perceptions and may be used to evaluate behavioural changes over time (e.g., Chaffin et al., 2006, Mundermann et al., 2002).

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