During swallowing, the electrical activity in the anterior temporal, lateral pterygoid, and digastric muscles was recorded in subjects (A) sitting upright with the head unsupported, (B) inclining backwards with the back‐rest at 45°, and (C) supine. The degree of activity (maximal mean voltage) was not influenced by posture and the time course was the same with the subjects inclined 45° and supine. In the anterior temporal muscle, swallowing in the inclined and supine positions lasted 100 msec less than during sitting upright. Because of the change from upright to inclined or supine positions the action of the lateral pterygoid and digastric muscles was advanced 30–100 msec in relation to the temporal muscle. It is suggested that the time pattern of the activity varied with posture because of a shortening of the oral phase when swallowing was performed in inclined and supine positions. The variation induced by altering posture was confined to changes of 5–10 % in the time course of the activity.
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Møller et al. (1971) studied this question.