The purpose of this study was to determine if the advantages and disadvantages of a new automotive seating concept, known as the micro-adjuster control system, could be reliably evaluated using both a physiological assessment technique (i.e., electromyography [EMG]) and a subjective questionnaire. The results indicate that psychophysical measures of discomfort and the root mean squared (RMS) activity of the EMG are statistically related, r (8) = -.788, p = .020. More specifically, subjective

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... ceptions of comfort were found to improve with decreasing levels of muscle activity. This implies that seat comfort can be evaluated on the basis of physiological as well as subjective responses to prolonged driving. This finding should drastically improve automobile seat design efforts. automotive seating psychophysics electromyography The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the support of Schukra of North America, especially Joe Bensen and Gayle M. Litrichin. Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to Mike Kolich, Johnson Controls, Inc.,