Monitoring and Evaluation of Emotion Regulation by Aerobic Exercise and Motor Imagery Based on Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy.

Peng Ding,Lei Zhao,Zhuangfei Chen,Siyu Li,Wei Zhang,Yunfa Fu,Hongquan Li,Anmin Gong,Fawang Wang

doi:10.3389/fncom.2021.759360

Abstract

Objective: We sought to effectively alleviate the emotion of individuals with anxiety and depression, and explore the effects of aerobic exercise on their emotion regulation. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging technology is used to monitor and evaluate the process of aerobic exercise and imagination that regulates emotion.Approach:Thirty participants were scored by the state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI) and profile of mood states (POMS), and fNIRS images were collected before, after, and during aerobic exercise and motor imagery. Then, the oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO), deoxygenated hemoglobin (HbR), and total hemoglobin (HbT) concentrations and their average value were calculated, and the ratio of HbO concentration in the left and right frontal lobes was determined. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to calculate the correlation between variations in the average scores of the two scales and in blood oxygen concentrations.Results: In comparison with motor imagery, STAI, and POMS scores decreased after 20 min of aerobic exercise. The prefrontal cortex had asymmetry and laterality (with the left side being dominant in emotion regulation). The increase in hemoglobin concentration recorded by fNIRS was negatively correlated with STAI and POMS scores. Aerobic exercise has a good effect on emotion regulation.Significance:The study showed that portable fNIRS could be effectively used for monitoring and evaluating emotion regulation by aerobic exercise. This study is expected to provide ideas for constructing fNIRS-based online real-time monitoring and evaluation of emotion regulation by aerobic exercise.

Highlights

The rapid development of society has placed a certain amount of pressure on individuals or groups, which can trigger different degrees of anxiety or depression
The results showed that the average state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI) and profile of mood states (POMS) scores before and after aerobic exercise were negatively correlated with the concentrations of HbO, HbR, and HbT
The results showed that the scores of the two scales changed significantly between before and after emotion regulation by aerobic exercise, and depression and anxiety emotions transformed into positive emotions

Summary

Introduction

The rapid development of society has placed a certain amount of pressure on individuals or groups, which can trigger different degrees of anxiety or depression. Aerobic exercise is one option to improve the mood and promote the generation of positive emotions (Brush et al, 2020) that can be used by people with severe anxiety for emotion regulation (Tempest and Parfitt, 2013). The pleasant, comfortable, or energetic experience of motor imagery may further promote the regulation of emotion (Tempest and Parfitt, 2013), but its regulatory effect on motion is still unclear. In the study, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging was used to monitor and evaluate the effect of aerobic exercise and motor imagery on emotion regulation (Jiang et al, 2017; Veerapa et al, 2020)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion