Higher inhibitory control is required to escape the innate attraction to effort minimization

Boris Cheval,Marcos Daou,Daniel A.R Cabral,Mariane F.B Bacelar,Juliana O Parma,Cyril Forestier,Dan Orsholits,David Sander,Matthieu P Boisgontier,Matthew W Miller

doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2020.101781

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests humans have an automatic attraction to effort minimization. Yet, how this attraction is associated with response inhibition is still unclear. Here, we used go/no-go tasks to capture inhibitory control in response to stimuli depicting physical activity versus physical inactivity in 59 healthy young individuals. Higher commission errors (i.e., failure to refrain a response to a “no-go” stimulus) indicated lower inhibitory control. Based on the energetic cost minimization theory, we hypothesized that participants would exhibit higher commission errors when responding to physical inactivity stimuli rather than physical activity stimuli. Mixed effects models showed that, compared to physical activity stimuli, participants exhibited higher commission errors when responding to stimuli depicting physical inactivity (odds ratio = 1.59, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.18 to 2.16, p = .003). These results suggest that physical inactivity stimuli might require high response inhibition. This study lends support for the hypothesis that an attraction to effort minimization might affect inhibitory processes in the presence of stimuli related to this minimization. The study pre-registration form can be found at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/RKYHB.

Highlights

Imagine you have planned to go to the gym after work
The theory of energetic cost minimization (Cheval, Radel, et al, 2018; Cheval, Sarrazin, Boisgontier, & Radel, 2017) contends that the inability to adopt regular physical activity behaviors could be explained by an automatic attraction toward behaviors minimizing energetic cost
Results showed that fe male patients with anorexia nervosa demonstrated higher commission errors for physical activity stimuli compared to physical inactivity stimuli. These findings suggest that physical activity stimuli might be associated with an increased demand on the inhibitory control system in patients with anorexia nervosa, a population with the large majority exercising excessively (Davis et al, 1997)

Summary

Introduction

Imagine you have planned to go to the gym after work. You go home to take your bag, but the sofa has grabbed your attention and you cannot resist the temptation to throw yourself into it. The theory of energetic cost minimization (Cheval, Radel, et al., 2018; Cheval, Sarrazin, Boisgontier, & Radel, 2017) contends that the inability to adopt regular physical activity behaviors could be explained by an automatic attraction toward behaviors minimizing energetic cost. This theory draws on an evolutionary perspective of physical activity (Lee, Emerson, & Williams, 2016; Lieberman, 2015; Speakman, 2019) as well as on a neuroscientific perspective of physical effort, which reveals a human tendency to behave in a way that maximizes reward and minimizes effort (Bernacer et al, 2019; Klein-Flügge, Kennerley, Fris ton, & Bestmann, 2016; Prevost, Pessiglione, Metereau, Clery-Melin, & Dreher, 2010; Skvortsova, Palminteri, & Pessiglione, 2014)

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