The influence of self-reported exercise addiction on acute emotional and physiological responses to brief exercise deprivation

Objectives: To examine the association between self-reported exercise addiction among competitive runners and their emotional and physiological response to a one-day deprivation from scheduled training.Design: A controlled experiment was utilised with random selection to exercise-deprived and control groups to examine the causal link between acute exercise deprivation and the presence and magnitude of withdrawal symptoms.Method: Club-level runners (n=60) who had been training at least five times weekly towards a major regional competition (30 women and 30 men, average age: 24.2 years) volunteered to abstain from a one-day training fixture with less than 24-hours’ notice. All subjects completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Running Addiction Scale (RAS) and resting heart rate (RHR) measurements. From this group, 15 men and 15 women were randomly selected to miss the next scheduled training (exercise-deprived group), while the remaining 30 runners continued their training uninterrupted (controls). Both groups repeated POMS and RHR measures within 24 hours after the experiment.Results: The exercise-deprived group reported significant withdrawal-like symptoms of depressed mood, reduced vigour and increased tension, anger, fatigue and confusion (measured by POMS), as well as significantly elevated RHR, within 24 hours after the missed training session. The control group showed no changes in mood or RHR. More importantly, the observed negative mood changes and RHR response in the exercise-deprived group were moderated by self-reported exercise addiction. The sub-median RAS scorers experienced significantly less mood change and RHR shifts than the higher scoring half of the sample. Further, correlations between RAS scores and the magnitude of increases in tension, anger, confusion, depression and RHR ranged from 0.46 to 0.58.Conclusions: Self-reported exercise addiction in habitual exercisers moderates their emotional and physiological responses to a short-term controlled exercise deprivation, indicating that the magnitude of these responses may, in turn, serve as early markers of exercise dependence.     

Consistency in physiological stress responses and electromyographic activity during induced stress exposure in women and men

Physiological responses serve the role as objective indicators of stress as well as a link between psychosocial stress and various health outcomes. The aim of the present exposure session was to compare different physiological stress responses (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, urinary epinephrine and norepinephrine, salivary cortisol) as well as trapezius muscle activity, measured by surface electromyography, during mental and physical stress in 11 women and ten men. The results show significantly increased activity in all measures but cortisol and significant associations between sympathetic arousal and EMG activity. The association between sympathetic arousal and muscle activity is of importance for understanding the high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in mentally stressful but physically light work tasks. Men had higher blood pressure and a more pronounced increase in epinephrine output than women, whereas women had higher heart rate. It was concluded that sympathetic activity is more sensitive to moderately intense stress exposure than pituitary adrenocortical (cortisol) activity and that men respond to performance stress with more epinephrine output than women. Although the correlations between the different indicators of sympathetic arousal were high, together they could still only explain 30–70% of the inter-individual variance. Thus, several parameters are needed in order to obtain a reliable measure of sympathetic activity.     

Sex-role orientation as related to psychological and physiological responses during achievement and orthostatic stress

The Bem sex-role inventory was used to select, from an Irish student population, females and males who differed with regard to feminine and masculine personality characteristics. Four groups were established for each sex: (1) subjects with low scores in both femininity and masculinity, i.e., undifferentiated subjects; (2) subjects with high scores in both femininity and masculinity, i.e., androgynous subjects; (3) subjects with high scores in femininity and low scores in masculinity; (4) subjects with high scores in masculinity and low scores in femininity. The Cattell 16 PF scale showed that the undifferentiated groups were more reserved and detached and more cautious and taciturn than the androgynous groups. Each subject was exposed to mental stress in one session and orthostatic stress in another session. Mental stress was induced by five different intellectual performance tests. Males and females differed significantly only on a test of perceptual speed, with females performing better than males, as expected. The group of androgynous females was superior to all other groups on four of the five performance tasks. The group of androgynous males was not superior in terms of objective performance but reported feeling more confident andThis collaboration was made possible by a twinning grant to Dr. John Cullen and Professor Marianne Frankenhaeuser from the European Training Programme in Brain and Behaviour Research, European Science Foundation. Financial support was also obtained by grants from the Swedish Medical Research Council (Project No. 997) and the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. satisfied with their performance than most other groups, particularly the undifferentiated males. Blood pressure and heart rate were significantly elevated in all groups during both stress conditions. Heart rate was significantly higher in the high-femininity and androgynous females than in the other female groups.     

Relations between perceptual and physiological response during incremental exercise followed by an extended bout of submaximal exercise on a cycle ergometer

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) of the legs, chest, and overall body with physiological responses (heart rate and oxygen uptake) both during incremental cycling exercise and the recovery stage (submaximal light exercise after total exhaustion). Subjects were 10 healthy university males ages 18 to 23 years (M age=20.5 yr., SD=1.4 yr.) who performed incremental cycling exercise until exhaustion after 1-min. rest and unloaded cycling for 2 min. They then continued to exercise at a constant load of 30 Watts (used for cooling down; recovery stage) for a total of 25 min. Oxygen uptake and heart rate were measured, and three types of RPE were done; Respiratory (chest; RPE-R), Peripheral (legs; RPE-P), and Overall (overall body; RPE-O) during the exercise and recovery stage. All variables during exercise and RPE-R and RPE-P during recovery stage showed significant linear changes. RPE-O and physiological exercise intensity (oxygen uptake and heart rate) in the recovery stage showed significant curvilinear changes (quadratic). RPE-P were significantly higher than RPE-R both during exercise and the recovery stage and the variables highly correlated (r > or = .88, p < .05). At the point of exhaustion, RPE-P and RPE-O almost reached a peak, but RPE-R did not. In the exercise period until exhaustion, the regression coefficient of RPE-R (.38) was significantly lower than that of RPE-P (.56) and RPE-O (.50), and RPE-R increased according to an increase of the incremental load, but the amount was significantly lower than those of RPE-P and RPE-O. In the recovery stage after exhaustion, the regression coefficient of RPE-O (-1.35) was significantly greater than that of RPE-P (-1.07). A decrease in RPE-O corresponded to a decrease in heart rate and oxygen uptake, but RPE-P did not, and the recovery of RPE-P tended to be late. The results suggest that relations for the physiological responses of heart rate, oxygen uptake, and RPE, and between each RPE in the recovery stage differed from those during exercise until exhaustion.     

Age and physiological, perceptual, and affective responses during walking at a self-selected pace

The aim of this study was to examine physiological, perceptual, and affective responses during self-paced walking for three age groups. 66 adult women were assigned into three groups by age: 20-25 yr. (n=22), 30-35 yr. (n=22), and 40-45 yr. (n=22). Each participant completed a maximal exercise test and a 20-min. bout of walking at a self-selected pace. The preferred walking speed was similar for all age groups, whereas physiological responses relative to maximal and ventilatory threshold values were greater in the 40-45 yr. group than the other two groups. Nevertheless, perceptual and affective responses were similar for all age groups. These findings suggest that physiological responses, but not perceptual and affective responses, of sedentary women are associated with age during walking at a self-selected pace.     

Threatened by the unexpected: physiological responses during social interactions with expectancy-violating partners

Individuals who violate expectations increase uncertainty during social interactions. Three experiments explored whether expectancy-violating partners engender "threat" responses in perceivers. Participants interacted with confederates who violated or confirmed expectations while multiple measures were assessed, including cardiovascular reactivity, task performance, appraisals, and behavior. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants interacted with White or Latino confederates who described their family backgrounds as either high or low socioeconomic status. In Experiment 3, participants interacted with Asian or White confederates who spoke with expected accents or southern accents. Participants interacting with expectancy-violating partners (e.g., Asians with southern accents) exhibited cardiovascular responses consistent with threat, poorer task performance, and manifested negative and defeat-related behavior. Implications for decreasing prejudicial responses via uncertainty reduction are discussed.     

Perceptual, oculomotor, and neural responses to moving color plaids

Moving plaids constructed from two achromatic gratings of identical luminance contrast are known to yield a percept of coherent pattern motion, as are plaids constructed from two identical chromatic (e.g. isoluminant red/green) gratings. To examine the interactive influences of chromatic and luminance contrast on the integration of visual motion signals, we constructed plaids with gratings that possessed both forms of contrast. We used plaids of two basic types, which differed with respect to the phase relationship between chromatic and luminance modulations (after Kooi et al, 1992 Perception 21 583-598). One plaid type ('symmetric') was made from component gratings that had identical chromatic/luminance phase relationships (e.g. both components were red-bright/green-dark modulation). The second plaid type ('asymmetric') was made from components that had complimentary phase relationships (i.e. one red-bright/green-dark grating and one green-bright/red-dark grating). Human subjects reported that the motion of symmetric plaids was perceptually coherent, while the components of asymmetric plaids failed to cohere. We also recorded eye movements elicited by both types of plaids to determine if they are similarly affected by these image cues for motion coherence. Results demonstrate that, under many conditions, eye movements elicited by perceptually coherent vs noncoherent plaids are distinguishable from one another. To reveal the neural bases of these perceptual and oculomotor phenomena, we also recorded the responses of neurons in the middle temporal visual area (area MT) of macaque visual cortex. Here we found that individual neurons exhibited differential tuning to symmetric vs asymmetric plaids. These neurophysiological results demonstrate that the neural mechanism for motion coherence is sensitive to the phase relationship between chromatic and luminance contrast, a finding which has implications for interactions between 'color' and 'motion' processing streams in the primate visual system.     

Perceptual closure and object identification: electrophysiological responses to incomplete pictures.

Event-related potentials were recorded during the naming of pictures of concrete objects. The pictures were presented at three levels of completeness: 10, 30, and 60%. The ERP waveforms were evaluated according to the level of picture completeness and the correctness of naming. A negative wave in the latency range of 250-550 ms was significantly more negative when the pictures were more incomplete, regardless of the correctness of response. This N400 wave is proposed as being related to hypotheses about the identity of the object. A late positive wave in the latency range of 550-650 ms followed the negativity, but only when the response was correct. This may reflect the subject's certainty about the perceptual analysis, a verification of the identity of the object. A slow parietal negativity lasting up to 2 sec was largest for the least complete picture. This therefore varied with the perceptual difficulty.     

Preferred exercise mode and affective responses in physically active adults

Objectives. In most studies that have considered the exercise and affect relationship, researchers have tended to prescribe cycle ergometry. Researchers have yet to question if this relationship is maintained when participants are given a choice of exercise modes. Design: Within-participants repeated measures.Methods. Physically active adult participants (n = 26; mean age = 33.2 years) engaged in 3 counterbalanced conditions for 30 minutes: (1) cycle ergometry, (2) choice of exercise mode and, (3) television control condition. The Positive and Negative Affect Scale (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) was administered to participants pre-, mid- and post-condition.Results. A 3 × 3 (Condition × Time) within-participants repeated measures analysis of variance revealed a significant interaction for Negative Affect scores. During and after exercise, the no-choice cycle ergometry condition reported significantly higher Negative Affect scores than the exercise choice and control conditions. A group main effect was recorded for Positive Affect with the control group reporting significantly higher scores compared to the cycle ergometry condition.Conclusions. These results indicate that practitioners should consider exercise preference more closely when promoting the psychological benefits of exercise.     

Development of hot and cool executive function during the transition to adolescence

This study examined the development of executive function (EF) in a typically developing sample from middle childhood to adolescence using a range of tasks varying in affective significance. A total of 102 participants between 8 and 15 years of age completed the Iowa Gambling Task, the Color Word Stroop, a Delay Discounting task, and a Digit Span task. Age-related improvements were found on all tasks, but improvements on relatively cool tasks (Color Word Stroop and Backward Digit Span) occurred earlier in this age range, whereas improvements on relatively hot tasks (Iowa Gambling Task and Delay Discounting) were more gradual and occurred later. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that performance on all tasks could be accounted for by a single-factor model. Together, these findings indicate that although similar abilities may underlie both hot and cool EF, hot EF develops relatively slowly, which may have implications for the risky behavior often observed during adolescence. Future work should include additional measures to characterize more intensively the development of both hot and cool EF during the transition to adolescence.     

Experiential and physiological responses associated with anger and aggression in women and men

In a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design, 48 male and female college students were either given a “sex-appropriate” provocation or were not provoked. Half of the subjects were then requested to give a “stream of consciousness” (SOC) report. Throughout the experiment, three physiological measures were monitored. Finally, all subjects delivered noxious sounds to their same-sex partner as part of a Buss-type learning task. No sex differences were found for subjects not giving the SOC report; provoked men and women were equally angry, hostile toward their partner, and displayed equal amounts of aggressive behavior. Provoked men reporting on their SOC, however, appeared to stimulate themselves to more aggression, whereas women seemed to adopt a nonhostile strategy for coping with their anger, thus reducing their inclination to behave aggressively. These patterns of results were closely paralleled by physiological changes. The relative validity of systolic and diastolic blood pressure as indicators of anger arousal was also discussed.     

Individual differences in preschoolers' physiological and verbal responses to videotaped angry interactions

Individual differences in selection of intensity of angry interactions and physiological and self-reported responses to interadult anger were examined in preschoolers (N=34). Children watched two videotaped angry interactions between adults, while their heart rates and skin conductance responses and levels were monitored; then they were interviewed. Before the second argument, children were given the perceived choice of watching an intense or mild angry exchange. Individual differences in responding to the angry interactions were found. Both (a) children with relatively higher externalizing behavior problems and (b) boys who chose to watch intense anger had lower tonic heart rates; 80% of boys with externalizing problems chose to watch intense anger. Further, children who chose to watch intense anger (a) exhibited lower declines in heart rates upon the presentation of the argument, (b) perceived the actors as more angry, and (c) reported lower amounts of distress during the argument than those who chose mild anger.     

Decoupling between physiological,self-reported,and expressed emotional responses in alexithymia

Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties identifying, describing, and expressing emotions and is associated with mental health problems involving emotion dysregulation. To understand the relationship between alexithymia and health, researchers have predominately examined group differences in physiological arousal and self-reported experience. The present study extends this research by examining differences in physiological arousal, self-reported experience, and observed expression. In addition to this between-subjects approach the present study examined within-person difference scores to better understand individual differences in decoupling between all three emotional response domains. Participants (N = 106; M = 18.00 years), classified as alexithymic (males = 17, females = 34) or non-alexithymic (males = 23, females = 32), gave an impromptu 3-min speech while measures of heart rate and galvanic skin response were continuously recorded. Participants completed self-report measures of self-conscious affect and their behavior was later coded for self-conscious affect. Alexithymic participants: (1) had significantly higher heart rate during baseline however physiological responses were indistinguishable during arousal and recovery, (2) experienced greater self-consciousness collapsing across the tasks, and (3) expressed more self-consciousness as a result of the speech. In addition, findings support the decoupling hypothesis. Alexithymic males experienced and expressed greater self-consciousness compared to their physiological arousal. Results are discussed in terms of the underlying mechanisms of alexithymia.     

Assessing cross-partner associations in physiological responses via coupled oscillator models

A host of theoretical frameworks suggest associations of physiological signals between two individuals within a romantic relationship. However, few studies have provided empirical evidence of such associations using physiological reactivity from both partners in the dyad. In this study we use measures of respiration and heart rate from romantic partners recorded across three laboratory tasks. We examine the interrelations of each measure between both dyad members using coupled linear oscillators (Boker & Nesselroade, 2002). These models were used to capture oscillations in respiration and heart rate, and to examine interdependence in the physiological signals between both partners. Results show that associations were detectable within all three tasks, with different patterns of coupling within each task. Discussion centers on ways to investigate the synchrony of physiological responses across within relationships, including the promises of and obstacles for doing so.