Affect mediates the relationship between physiological and motivational responses to exercise

Area of Science:

• Exercise Physiology
• Sport Psychology
• Human Performance

Background:

• The interplay between physiological and motivational factors in endurance performance remains unclear.
• Understanding these interactions is crucial for optimizing training and competition strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how changes in blood lactate, heart rate (HR), oxygen uptake (VO2), and body temperature affect the desire to reduce effort and performance goals during incremental exercise.
• To explore the mediating role of core affect in these physiological and motivational relationships.

Main Methods:

• Fifty participants completed an incremental cycling test with increasing work rates.
• Physiological (blood lactate, HR, VO2, body temperature) and psychological (desire to reduce effort, performance goal) measures were collected at each stage.
• Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the within-person relationships.

Main Results:

• Increased blood lactate concentration predicted a greater desire to reduce effort and a lower performance goal.
• Higher oxygen uptake (VO2) and heart rate (HR) were associated with an increased desire to reduce effort.
• Elevated body temperature predicted a higher performance goal.
• Core affect significantly mediated the relationships between blood lactate, VO2, and motivational variables.

Conclusions:

• Physiological responses during exercise have distinct motivational implications for endurance performance.
• Blood lactate, VO2, HR, and body temperature differentially influence desire to reduce effort and performance goals.
• Core affect is an important mediator in the physiological-motivational links during exercise, particularly concerning desire-goal conflicts.