Examining whether affectively-charged motivations predict subsequent affective response during physical activity : An ecological momentary assessment study

Background:Evidence suggests positive affective response during physical activity increases the likelihood of engaging in and maintaining regular activity exercise in the future. Elucidating antecedents for a positive affective response may help identify intervention strategies to increase activity. Affectively-charged motivations (e.g., desires, urges, dreading) have been posited as proximal antecedents to physical activity but have yet to be examined in terms of their influence on affective response in real-world settings. The current study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine within-subject effects of pre-physical activity affectively-charged motivation on subsequent affective response during physical activity.Methods:Participants included 56 adults (M = 39.18 years, SD = 11.98; 67.86% female) who completed a 14-day smartphone-based EMA study. Prior to starting physical activity (time t), participants self-initiated an event-contingent EMA survey that assessed affectively-charged motivation for physical activity (i.e., rating scale from “dreading it” to “excited to do it”). EMA surveys prompted during subsequent physical activity (time t + 15 min) assessed affective response (i.e., feeling good—bad, energized—exhausted, thrilled—miserable, interested—bored, and relaxed—nervous). Multi-level linear regression models examined within-subject effects of pre- physical activity affectively-charged motivations on subsequent affective response during physical activity controlling for between-subjects effects of affectively-charged motivation, age, biological sex, time of day, and day of the week.Results:Overall, there were N = 304 physical activity occasions in the analysis (M = 5.43, SD = 3.97). When individuals reported more positive affectively-charged motivation for physical activity than usual before physical activity occasions, they reported feeling more energized (Estimate = 0.22, p Conclusion:Momentary affectively-charged motivations predicted more positive affective response during subsequent physical activity among active adults. Future research can explore potential sources of intraindividual differences in affectively-charged motivations and further examine these associations with future physical activity behavior. To improve positive affective responses, interventions may boost affectively-charged motivations through real-time mobile prompting in naturalistic settings.publishe

Doing exercise or sport together with one's child is positively associated with mothers' momentary affect in daily life, but not with higher levels of overall physical activity

BackgroundPhysical inactivity is a widespread problem with a great need for innovative intervention concepts to overcome it. Epidemiological studies have identified working women in high-income Western countries to be at greater risk for physical inactivity. The current study included working mothers and examined within-subject associations between doing exercise/sport together with one’s child and five different affective states, and with light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).MethodDuring 1 week, mothers (N = 192) completed up to eight ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys a day to assess momentary affect and certain situational circumstances (e.g., doing exercise/sport, being together with child). Physical activity was assessed objectively with waist-worn accelerometers.ResultsMultilevel analysis showed that doing exercise/sport together with one’s child was associated with higher positive affect and lower negative affect compared to being active alone. However, greater frequency of doing exercise/sport together with children was negatively associated with MVPA.ConclusionDue to the positive effect on momentary affect, combining spending time together with one’s child and simultaneously doing exercise/sport might be a good strategy of pairing two relevant personal goals. However, this strategy was not associated with sufficient MVPA.publishe

Assessing basic and higher-level psychological needs satisfied through physical activity

Background: There has been increasing interest in the extent to which the fulfillment of psychological needs is associated with physical activity engagement. However, a vast majority of studies consider only basic psychological needs such as relatedness, competence, and autonomy—with higher-level psychological needs such as challenge, creativity, and spirituality rarely being addressed. The aim of this study was to examine the preliminary reliability (i.e., internal consistency) and validity (i.e., discriminant, construct, and predictive) of a multi-dimensional scale to assess a range of basic and higher-level psychological needs satisfied through physical activity. Methods: A sample of 75 adults (ages 19–65 years, 59% female, 46% White) completed a baseline questionnaire measuring 13 psychological needs subscales (i.e., physical comfort, safety, social connection, esteem from others, individual esteem, learning, challenge, entertainment, novelty, creativity, mindfulness, aesthetic appreciation, and morality), exercise enjoyment, and exercise vitality. Participants then completed 14 days of accelerometer monitoring of physical activity and ecological momentary assessment of affective responses during physical activity sessions in daily life. Results: Internal consistency reliability was acceptable (>0.70) for all subscales except for mindfulness, aesthetic appreciation, and morality. Ten of the 13 subscales exhibited discriminant validity by differentiating between engagement (vs. no engagement) in at least one physical activity type (e.g., brisk walking and yoga/Pilates). All the subscales, except physical comfort and esteem from others, were associated with at least one of the construct validation criteria (e.g., exercise enjoyment, affective response during exercise). Five of the subscales were associated with at least one of the predictive validation criteria (i.e., light, moderate, vigorous intensity activity measured by accelerometer). Conclusion: Having the capacity to assess whether one’s current physical activity is failing to fulfill various psychological needs—combined with recommendations about which types of activities may satisfy those needs—may address an important gap in physical activity promotion.publishe

A systematic review of the neurobiological effects of theta-burst stimulation (TBS) as measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Theta burst stimulation (TBS) is associated with a range of clinical, cognitive, and behavioural outcomes, but specific neurobiological effects remain somewhat unclear. This systematic literature review investigated resting-state and task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) outcomes post TBS in healthy human adults. Forty-two studies that applied either continuous- or intermittent- (c/i) TBS, and adopted a pretest-posttest and/or sham-controlled design, were included. For resting-state outcomes following stimulation applied to motor, temporal, parietal, occipital, or cerebellar regions, functional connectivity generally decreased in response to cTBS and increased in response to iTBS, though there were some exceptions to this pattern of response. This is mostly consistent with the assumed long-term depression (LTD)/long-term potentiation (LTP)-like plasticity effects of cTBS and iTBS, respectively. Task-related outcomes following TBS were more variable. TBS applied to the frontal cortex, irrespective of task or state, also produced more variable responses, with no consistent patterns emerging. Individual participant and methodological factors are likely to contribute to the variability in responses to TBS. Future studies assessing the effects of TBS via fMRI must account for factors known to affect the response to TBS, both at the level of individual participants and of research methodology

Motivational Profile as a Predictor for Physical Activity Among U.S. Adults During the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Daily Diary Study

Objective: This study used a daily diary approach to examine associations between day-level physical activity (PA) behavior, PA-specific motivational profile, and days since the COVID-19 national emergency declaration during the early months (April-June 2020) of the pandemic. Method: A total of 475 U.S. adults (Mage=34.9 years, 78% female) participated in a 28-day smartphone-based daily diary study assessing PA. A baseline survey assessed PA and motivation for PA using the Behavioral Regulation for Exercise Questionnaire. Multi-level linear regression models examined the main effects and interactions of motivational profile and time (days since the March 13, 2020 COVID-19 national emergency declaration) on daily PA minutes. Results: Latent Profile Analysis identified four distinct motivational profile classes for PA among this sample: Class 1) high amotivation (n=102, 21%); Class 2) low controlled motivation (n=55, 12%); Class 3) high external regulation (n=47, 10%); and Class 4) moderate autonomous motivation (n=271, 57%). After controlling for baseline PA, there were significant interactions between class and time on daily PA (-0.16, p<.01). Class 2 showed greater decreases in daily PA minutes over time than Classes 1 and 3 (b=-0.28, p<.01 and b=-0.17, p=.02, respectively). Conclusions: Contrary to previous research, individuals with lower controlled or moderate autonomous motivation demonstrated the largest decreases in PA over time, whereas individuals with higher amotivation or external regulation demonstrated smaller decreases over time. These findings suggest that external motivation may have provided short-term protection against declines in PA observed during early months of the COVID-19 pandemic

Long‐term effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on children's physical activity and sedentary behavior

Abstract Background During the early months of the COVID‐19 pandemic, decreases in physical activity (PA) and increases in sedentary behavior (SB) were reported among children in the United States (U.S.). This follow‐up analysis examines 13‐month effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on children's PA and SB one year into the pandemic. Methods Parents of 5–13‐year‐old children in the U.S. (N = 71) reported on their child's PA and SB during the early COVID‐19 period (April‐May 2020) and again 12–14 months later (June‐July 2021). Results Paired t‐tests showed significant within‐subject reductions in SB minutes per day (Mdiff = −86.20, t = 3.26, p < 0.01) but no changes in PA minutes per day. Separate mixed‐model repeated‐measures analysis of covariance procedures found that within‐subject changes in PA and SB did not differ by child sex or age. Conclusion As COVID‐19 restrictions lessened, there were more opportunities for children to reduce SB, but there were still barriers to engage in PA

A systematic review of the neurobiological effects of theta-burst stimulation (TBS) as measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Theta burst stimulation (TBS) is associated with the modulation of a range of clinical, cognitive, and behavioural outcomes, but specific neurobiological effects remain somewhat unclear. This systematic literature review investigated resting-state and task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) outcomes post-TBS in healthy human adults. Fifty studies that applied either continuous—or intermittent—(c/i) TBS, and adopted a pretest–posttest or sham-controlled design, were included. For resting-state outcomes following stimulation applied to motor, temporal, parietal, occipital, or cerebellar regions, functional connectivity generally decreased in response to cTBS and increased in response to iTBS, though there were some exceptions to this pattern of response. These findings are mostly consistent with the assumed long-term depression (LTD)/long-term potentiation (LTP)-like plasticity effects of cTBS and iTBS, respectively. Task-related outcomes following TBS were more variable. TBS applied to the prefrontal cortex, irrespective of task or state, also produced more variable responses, with no consistent patterns emerging. Individual participant and methodological factors are likely to contribute to the variability in responses to TBS. Future studies assessing the effects of TBS via fMRI must account for factors known to affect the TBS outcomes, both at the level of individual participants and of research methodology

Mild Concussion, but Not Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury, Is Associated with Long-Term Depression-Like Phenotype in Mice

Mild traumatic brain injuries can lead to long-lasting cognitive and motor deficits, increasing the risk of future behavioral, neurological, and affective disorders. Our study focused on long-term behavioral deficits after repeated injury in which mice received either a single mild CHI (mCHI), a repeated mild CHI (rmCHI) consisting of one impact to each hemisphere separated by 3 days, or a moderate controlled cortical impact injury (CCI). Shams received only anesthesia. Behavioral tests were administered at 1, 3, 5, 7, and 90 days post-injury (dpi). CCI animals showed significant motor and sensory deficits in the early (1-7 dpi) and long-term (90 dpi) stages of testing. Interestingly, sensory and subtle motor deficits in rmCHI animals were found at 90 dpi. Most importantly, depression-like behaviors and social passiveness were observed in rmCHI animals at 90 dpi. These data suggest that mild concussive injuries lead to motor and sensory deficits and affective disorders that are not observed after moderate TBI