Incorrect physical fitness feedback reduces positive thinking in non-anxious people after moderate exercise

Individuals experiencing anxiety exhibit attentional biases towards unpleasant stimuli. Exercise is an anxiolytic intervention, evidenced by changes in attentional bias following physical activity. Many individuals experience 'anxiety about exercising' due to perceived deficits in fitness levels, self-consciousness about appearance, or discomfort with exertion. Exercise could counteract its positive benefits and exacerbate anxiety-induced biases in some situations. We sought to investigate whether false feedback about fitness-based social comparison information could impact perceived anxiety and post-exercise attentional bias using a modified dot-probe task. Using a randomized, within-subject experimental design, thirty-nine non-anxious adults completed four dot-probe assessments before and after a single 20-min cycling session at moderate intensity (55% heart rate reserve). Participants were healthy young adults screened for low anxiety symptoms using standardized affective measures. Attentional bias was operationalized via reaction-time differences to pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral image pairs in a validated modified dot-probe paradigm. The design allowed within-subject comparisons across pre- and post-feedback as well as pre- and post-exercise conditions. Participants were randomized to receive either falsified negative feedback about their fitness levels compared to their peers before and after exercise (n = 18) or neutral feedback (n = 21). Four modified dot-probe assessments were completed, with self-reported emotional states recorded after each task. Results indicate that falsified social-comparative feedback indicating inferior physical fitness encouraged an attentional avoidance to pleasant affective content, while subsequent exercise did not alter this attentional bias. Findings suggest social comparison information about physical fitness may challenge the benefits of moderate-intensity exercise on pleasant affect.