The reticular-activating hypofrontality (RAH) model of acute exercise

Development of a Chinese Emotional Intelligence Inventory and Its Association with Physical Activity

“…Several plausible mechanisms for PA effects on emotional consequences have been identified (Dietrich & Audiffren, 2011;Carron et al 2003;Biddle & Mutrie, 2001); including having higher level of self-perception and body image through improvements in physical fitness or weight loss that resulted from exercise (Fox 2000); attaining positive emotions by changing in self-esteem due to mastering new exercise skills, or from an increased sense of intra-personal control (Biddle, 2000). In explaining the underlying neurobehavioral mechanism of how exercise could be beneficial towards emotions, Dietrich & Audiffren (2011) presented an evolutionary model of reticular-activating hypofrontality model of acute exercise; Dietrich & Audiffren (2011) noted that exercise first engages arousal mechanisms in the reticular-activating system by releasing a number of neurotransmitters (mainly norephinephine, dopamine, and serotonin) which shed positive effect on emotion; then secondly, since exercise motion demands enormously on motor, sensory, and autonomic structures of exercised individuals, thus, deactivate the higher-order functions of the prefrontal cortex by decreasing neural activity, thus, might help exercisers to mitigate the negative and unhelpful emotions.…”

“…The studies of the association of EI and physical activity received attention recently (Adhia, Nagendra, & Mahadevan, 2010;Dietrich & Audiffren, 2011;Li, Lu, & Wang (2009). Dietrich & Audiffren, 2011 reported the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between EI and exercise, while Li, Lu, & Wang (2009) found that physical activity was one of the predictor variables of emotional intelligence.…”

“…Dietrich & Audiffren, 2011 reported the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between EI and exercise, while Li, Lu, & Wang (2009) found that physical activity was one of the predictor variables of emotional intelligence. Nevertheless, the topic of how the experience of physical activity influences emotional intelligence and whether emotional intelligence could be mediator of physical activity behavior change, or directly leads to changes in exercise behavior has yet to be discussed.…”

The effect of cognitive strategies of association and dissociation on central nervous activation: A controlled trial with long distance runners

“…For Dietrich and Audiffren [55], exercise duration would be the predominant factor to account for the effect of exercise on central nervous activation. The proposed hypothesis is that when exercise duration lasts more than 1 h, the appearance of fatigue symptoms such as an increase in metabolic load, heat stress, the appearance of central and peripheral fatigue and hormonal changes would lead to a decrement of cognitive processes ef icacy.…”

Extreme Rituals as Social Technologies

“…As a result, pain as a psychological experience is not directly related to the physical damage to tissue or bone that may occur during extreme collective rituals. Similarly, a reticular-activiating hypofrontality model of acute exercise (Dietrich and Audiffren, 2011) proposes that endurance activities lead to a disengagement of higher-order prefrontal cortex areas and down-regulate emotional processing, but do not compromise the functioning of implicit systems related to optimal motor execution. This can help explain why individuals engaged in strenuous and high-intensity activities (and often in combination with restrictions in food and fluid intake) will continue to operate at a physical level (e.g., walking long-distances, pulling or carrying heavy objects), but are unable to process more complex information or experience emotional reactions of pain or discomfort that would be experienced in other circumstances.…”