EffortLESS_Project

Our society currently faces a pandemic of physical inactivity which is associated with many chronic diseases and deaths. Despite policies aiming to encourage individuals to get involved in a regular physical activity, the prevalence of insufficient physical activity remains elevated. It is therefore crucial to explore other streams of research that might help to explain this level of inactivity and drive new strategies to encourage people to become more physically active. Along this line, the automatic attraction of individuals towards activities associated with low effort perception has recently been suggested to play a pivotal role in many of the barriers to physical activity. Effort perception, which refers to the perception of the physical and mental resources involved in a physical task, appears to be valued aversively by inactive individuals, preventing them from engaging in physical activity. However, the neuropsychological bases of effort perception and how they relate to physical inactivity remains poorly understood. Therefore, unraveling the neural signals involved in effort perception and identifying how they determine engagement in physical activity is essential to help increase individual’s physical activity levels. In this context, the main guiding hypothesis of this project is that manipulating effort perception, to make physical activity feel less strenuous for a particular exercise intensity, facilitates engagement and maintenance of a physically active lifestyle. For this purpose, after clarification of the neural substrates of effort perception, we will seek to capture the neural correlates of effort perception differentiating people avoiding and seeking to engage in physical activity. Finally, we will examine the potential of non-invasive brain and muscle stimulation techniques to reduce the perception of effort at a given physical intensity and, in turn, increase individuals’ subjective value of effort. Hopefully, this project will pave the way for the development of novel and innovative strategies aimed at decreasing effort perception and improving the valuation of effort, to promote regular physical activity and improve overall health outcomes.