Using Event-related Potentials To Capture Automatic Associations Of Physical Activity

Recent dual-process theories of physical activity behavior have postulated that implicit (affective, automatic) processes may help explain adoption and maintenance of physical activity. These automatic evaluations of physical activity have been predominantly assessed using reaction-time based measures. More recent studies have combined psychophysiology(e.g., heart rate variability, EEG) to capture automatic processes, and to compare these with self-reported attitudes. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was measure automatic associations of physical activity-related images using the P3b and late positive potential (LPP) components of the event-related brain potential. METHODS: Fifty-seven participants (37 female; 21.3 + 1.48 years) were recruited and completed a passive viewing paradigm and a modified oddball task while continuous electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. EEG data were processed according to international guidelines and the P3b and LPP components were isolated at standard latency windows from parietal-occipital electrode sites. RESULTS: No significant differences in LPP amplitudes elicited by exercise-related and neutral images were found, p > .05; however, LPP amplitude to exercise images significantly differed by type of exercise, with interpersonal exercise images being most salient, p < .01. Results from the modified oddball task revealed that exercise images embedded within a positive context elicited the smallest P3b amplitudes (M = 3.71) compared to negative (M = 3.98) and neutral(M = 4.04) contexts, suggesting that exercise images were registering in the brain as positive. The exercise images were also subjectively rated more favorably than negative or neutral images, p < .05. CONCLUSIONS: It remains unclear whether automatic associations of exercise stimuli can be captured. However, these findings point to potentially important contextual and task specific influences that should be considered when attempting to capture automatic associations towards physical activity.