Attentional effects on affect and prefrontal activation during high-intensity exercise with music

Music is widely used in exercise as a dissociative strategy to divert attention from sensations of fatigue. During high-intensity exercise, however, physiological perceptions may dominate attention, making it difficult for external stimuli like music to capture focus. Two experiments examined the impact of directing attention to music or body movements while running with asynchronous music. In Experiment 1, a within-subjects 2 (intensity: 70% or 80% heart rate reserve) x 2 (focus: music-focus or body-focus) design was employed. Focusing on music resulted in higher affective valence and remembered pleasure than focusing on body movements. No main effects of intensity level were observed. In Experiment 2, bilateral prefrontal oxygenation was measured using near-infrared spectroscopy during three conditions at 80%HRR: exercise with music and focus on music (music-focus), exercise with music and focus on body movements (body-focus), and exercise without music and focus on body movements (control). Compared to the control condition, the body-focus condition decreased prefrontal activation in the left hemisphere, suggesting that the presence of music reduced cognitive demands associated with regulating negative feelings during exertion. This reduction was not observed for the music-focus condition, possibly because actively processing the rhythmic structure of asynchronous music imposed additional cognitive demands. However, a mini-meta-analysis across both experiments revealed that focusing on music improved affective valence and remembered pleasure. There were also medium-sized positive correlations between perceived attention to music and affective responses. These findings suggest that attention to music is associated with positive affect even in high-intensity exercise where interoceptive information is dominant.