Immersive environments induced by audiovisual stimuli are hypothesised to facilitate the control of movements and ameliorate fatigue-related symptoms during exercise. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of pleasant and unpleasant audiovisual stimuli on perceptual and psychophysiological responses during moderate-intensity exercises performed on an electromagnetically braked cycle ergometer. Twenty young adults were administered three experimental conditions in a randomised and counterbalanced order: unpleasant stimulus (US; e.g. images depicting laboured breathing); pleasant stimulus (PS; e.g. images depicting pleasant emotions); and neutral stimulus (NS; e.g. neutral facial expressions). The exercise had 10 min of duration (2 min of warm-up + 6 min of exercise + 2 min of warm-down). During all conditions, the rate of perceived exertion and heart rate variability were monitored to further understanding of the moderating influence of audiovisual stimuli on perceptual and psychophysiological responses, respectively. The results of the present study indicate that PS ameliorated fatigue-related symptoms and reduced the physiological stress imposed by the exercise bout. Conversely, US increased the global activity of the autonomic nervous system and increased exertional responses to a greater degree when compared to PS. Accordingly, audiovisual stimuli appear to induce a psychophysiological response in which individuals visualise themselves within the story presented in the video. In such instances, individuals appear to copy the behaviour observed in the videos as if the situation was real. This mirroring mechanism has the potential to up-/down-regulate the cardiac work as if in fact the exercise intensities were different in each condition.
The present experiment sought to further understanding of the effects of personalised audiovisual stimuli on psychological and psychophysiological responses during exercise in adults with obesity. Twenty-four participants (M = 28.3, SD = 5.5 years; M = 32.2, SD = 2.4) engaged in self-paced exercises on a recumbent cycle ergometer and three conditions (sensory stimulation [ST], sensory deprivation [DE], and control [CO]) were administered. Perceptual (attentional focus and perceived exertion), affective (affective state and perceived activation), and psychophysiological (heart rate variability) parameters were monitored throughout the exercise bouts. A one-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare self-reported and psychophysiological variables (main and interaction effects [5 Timepoints × 3 Conditions]). The results indicate that ST increased the use of dissociative thoughts throughout the exercise session (η = .19), ameliorated fatigue-related symptoms (η = .15) and elicited more positive affective responses (η = .12) than CO and DE. Accordingly, personally-compiled videos are highly effective in ameliorating exertional responses and enhancing affective valence during self-paced exercise in adults with obesity. Audiovisual stimuli could be used during the most critical periods of the exercise regimen (e.g., first training sessions) when individuals with obesity are more likely to focus on fatigue-related sensations.
The aims of this study were to verify the correspondence between heart rate variability (HRV) and ventilatory thresholds during a progressive exercise test and the relationship with low and high aerobic fitness levels. Twenty male volunteers (29.5±6.2 years; 75.9±13.0 kg; 175.0±7.4 cm) were recruited. The subjects were allocated to two groups according to their VO2max <48.8 ml•kg−1•min−1 (low cardiorespiratory fitness group) (n=10) and >48.81 ml•kg−1•min−1 (high cardiorespiratory fitness group) (n=10). A progressive test was performed, consisting of 3-min stages beginning at 25 watts and increasing by 25 watts every 3-min. The HRV threshold (HRVT) and ventilatory threshold (VT) analyses were performed through visual inspection. The comparisons with RMSSD values in percentage of maximum workload resulted in a higher effect size (ES) than the SDNN values. The VO2 in the high cardiorespiratory fitness group at VT (+32%), HRVTRMSSD (+27%), and HRVTSDNN (+31%) was signifi cantly higher compared to the group with low cardiorespiratory fitness. Higher values were observed for relative load (W•kg-1) at VT and HRVTSDNN in the high cardiorespiratory fitness group in comparison with the low cardiorespiratory fitness group (P<0.05), but no difference for VT and HRVTRMSSD. Signifi cant correlations between at VT and HRVTSDNN (r=0.77) were found only in the low cardiorespiratory fitness group. Cardiorespiratory fitness should be regarded as a factor for HRVT evaluation. The HRVTSDNN was closer to the VT in the low cardiorespiratory fitness group than the HRVTRMSSD, however, the use of vagal modulation assessed using the HRV parameter was more sensitive to observe possible differences regarding cardiorespiratory fitness.
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