Is approaching sedentary behaviour or physical activity a reward? An EEG study

Abstract

Objective: To understand why individuals (do not) exercise, our study examined differences in approach and avoidance tendencies towards physical activity and sedentary behaviours among runners and non-runners, especially at the neural level.

Methods: Using electroencephalography (EEG), 31 participants completed an approach-avoidance task.

Results: We found that at the behavioural level, non-runners were faster to approach sedentary behaviour relative to runners. However, at the neural level, they both had a tendency to avoid physical activity. Specifically, avoiding physical activity had less conflict monitoring (smaller N1), required more cognitive processes (larger P3), and was more neurologically efficient (higher alpha coherence).

Conclusions: These results supported the theory of effort minimization in physical activity (TEMPA), with both runners and non-runners regarding sedentary behaviour as a reward.

Data availability statement: The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

Keywords: Approach-avoidance tendencies; Event-related potentials; Spectral coherence.