Effects of audiovisual stimuli on psychological and psychophysiological responses during exercise in adults with obesity

ABSTRACT

The present experiment sought to further understanding of the effects of personalised audiovisual stimuli on psychological and psychophysiological responses during exercise in adults with obesity. Twenty-four participants (M_age = 28.3, SD = 5.5 years; M_BMI = 32.2, SD = 2.4) engaged in self-paced exercises on a recumbent cycle ergometer and three conditions (sensory stimulation [ST], sensory deprivation [DE], and control [CO]) were administered. Perceptual (attentional focus and perceived exertion), affective (affective state and perceived activation), and psychophysiological (heart rate variability) parameters were monitored throughout the exercise bouts. A one-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare self-reported and psychophysiological variables (main and interaction effects [5 Timepoints × 3 Conditions]). The results indicate that ST increased the use of dissociative thoughts throughout the exercise session (η_p² = .19), ameliorated fatigue-related symptoms (η_p² = .15) and elicited more positive affective responses (η_p² = .12) than CO and DE. Accordingly, personally-compiled videos are highly effective in ameliorating exertional responses and enhancing affective valence during self-paced exercise in adults with obesity. Audiovisual stimuli could be used during the most critical periods of the exercise regimen (e.g., first training sessions) when individuals with obesity are more likely to focus on fatigue-related sensations.

KEYWORDS:

• Applied psychology
• attention
• motor activity
• psychophysiology
• sensory aids

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the present experiment were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants in the present study.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported, in part, by grants from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), Brazil.