Abstract
Research conducted within the cognitive bias modification (CBM) paradigm has revealed that cognitive biases such as negative cognitive interpretation biases contribute to mental health disorders such as anxiety (Beard, 2011). It has been shown that exercise reduces anxiety (Ensari et al., 2015). Exercise has also been found to reduce negative cognitive attention biases (Tian and Smith, 2011), however, no research to date has investigated the effect of exercise on cognitive interpretation bias. The key aims of the current project is to investigate whether moderate exercise reduces self-reported symptoms of depression and stress. Additionally, to establish which intensity of exercise is required to achieve anxiety reduction and reduce an individual’s negative cognitive interpretation biases. Study 1 recruited a healthy sample of adult participants who were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a walking exercise protocol or a control condition (n = 2 × 12). Participants completed anxiety and cognitive interpretation bias measures before and after the walking exercise or control condition. Those in the walking exercise condition presented less symptoms of trait anxiety on a measure of state and trait anxiety inventory (STAI), compared to controls relative to baseline measures following the intervention. Study 2 recruited frequent exercisers who were assigned to an exercise or control group (n = 2 × 24). Participants completed anxiety, depression, psychological stress, and cognitive interpretation bias measures before and after the exercise or control condition. Following the intervention, negative interpretation biases decreased in the exercise group and stayed stable in the control group. The exercise group also had significantly decreased anxiety, depression, and stress measures after the exercise condition, while controls did not. The research concludes that CBM holds promise for the management of mood disorders and exercise is an effective accompaniment to psychotherapy.
Highlights
The beneficial effects of acute and chronic exercise on healthy individuals and those with sub-clinical or clinical anxiety and depression have been well established (Herring et al, 2014; Stubbs et al, 2017) and exercise has been advocated as a treatment for maladaptive mood and emotional problems (Paluska and Schwenk, 2000; Barbour and Blumenthal, 2005; Execise, Interpretation Bias and AnxietyPenedo and Dahn, 2005; Otto et al, 2007)
Preliminary Analysis Before the full analysis was conducted, preliminary analysis of the data was conducted to investigate the assumptions of parametric tests; the data was assessed for outliers using box plot graphs, no outliers were identified
The histogram of standardized residuals indicated that the data contained approximately normally distributed errors, as did the normal P– P plot of standardized residuals, which showed points that were close to the line of fit
Summary
The beneficial effects of acute and chronic exercise on healthy individuals and those with sub-clinical or clinical anxiety and depression have been well established (Herring et al, 2014; Stubbs et al, 2017) and exercise has been advocated as a treatment for maladaptive mood and emotional problems (Paluska and Schwenk, 2000; Barbour and Blumenthal, 2005; Execise, Interpretation Bias and AnxietyPenedo and Dahn, 2005; Otto et al, 2007). The effects of physical exercise on the processing of these threat-related negative cognitive biases in individuals who experience frequent and severe episodes of anxiety and anxiety disorders is much less understood (Cooper and Tomporowski, 2017). Research to date has not investigated the effect of cognitive interpretation bias on perceived psychological stress as an independent factor, despite their being support for a link between clinical depression and perceived stress (Joormann and Quinn, 2014; Joormann et al, 2015). Kajtna et al (2011) investigated the effect of mood states on experienced levels of stress, they found no significant correlation between high experienced levels of stress and negative mood-states This suggests that the physiological effect of stress has no effect on negative emotions and perhaps no effect on cognitive biases. The evidence is not clearcut and others have found no such evidence of negative interpretation bias in depressed individuals (Bisson and Sears, 2007)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
