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Pighin S, Bonini N, Hadjichristidis C, Schena F, Modena R, Savadori L. Hypoxia and risk preferences: Mild hypoxia impacts choices for low-probability high-payoff bets. Front Physiol 2022; 13:960773. [PMID: 36105278 PMCID: PMC9465039 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.960773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Mild degrees of hypoxia are known to exert a detrimental effect on cognitive functions. In a lab study, we assessed the effect of mild hypoxia on risk-taking behavior. Participants (N = 25) were presented with pairs of bets of equal expected monetary value, one having a higher probability of winning/losing a lower payoff (safer bet) and one having a lower probability of winning/losing a higher payoff (riskier bet). We systematically varied the ratio of the probabilities (and corresponding payoffs) of the two bets and examined how this affected participants’ choice between them. Following a familiarization session, participants performed the task twice: once in a normoxic environment (20.9% oxygen concentration) and once in a mildly hypoxic environment (14.1% oxygen concentration). Participants were not told and could not guess which environment they were in. We found a higher preference for the riskier bet in the mild hypoxic than normoxic environment but only in the loss domain. Furthermore, as the probability ratio increased, mild hypoxia increased the preference for the riskier bet in the domain of losses but decreased it for gains. The present findings support that mild hypoxia promotes riskier choices in the loss domain and provide new insights into the impact of mild hypoxia in moderating the effect of probability ratio on risky choices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefania Pighin
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
- *Correspondence: Stefania Pighin,
| | - Nicolao Bonini
- Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | | | - Federico Schena
- Research Center Sport, Mountain and Health (CERISM), University of Verona, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Roberto Modena
- Research Center Sport, Mountain and Health (CERISM), University of Verona, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Lucia Savadori
- Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
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Thomson CJ, Gaetz M, Rastad M. Acute Effects of Exercise on Risk-Taking: Different Responses in Males and Females. RESEARCH QUARTERLY FOR EXERCISE AND SPORT 2022; 93:250-259. [PMID: 33030412 DOI: 10.1080/02701367.2020.1822984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2019] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
In recent years there has been great interest in the effects of exercise on cognition, but few have investigated whether physical activity influences risk-taking. Purpose: To investigate the effects of acute moderate to vigorous exercise on risky decision-making. Methods: Healthy (free of psychological or neurological conditions), recreationally active males and females (n = 20, 50% females, mean age = 22.4 years, sd = 2.48) performed either a 30-min bout of cycling at 50% to 60% of their maximal power output or watched a neutral film over the course of two laboratory visits (repeated measures, randomized crossover design). Following the interventions, participants completed computerized behavioral tasks: the Balloon-Analogue Risk Task (BART), the Risky Gains Task, and the STOP-IT task and provided saliva samples (pre and post) to measure changes in cortisol. Results: There was a significant interaction between sex and condition (p = .01, ηp2 = .3) for one of the risk-taking outcomes of the BART (number of explosions). Females exploded fewer balloons post-exercise. Performance on the other tasks did not change significantly between conditions (all p > .05). Cortisol increased significantly following exercise and responses did not differ between males and females. Considering cortisol change post-exercise similarly resulted in a significant sex by condition interaction (p = .005, ηp2 = .44), with males exploding more balloons and females exploding fewer post-exercise. Conclusion: Acute exercise appears to have differing effects on males and females. Exercise resulted in risk seeking in males and risk aversion in females as measured by the BART.
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Hutchins KP, Borg DN, Bach AJE, Bon JJ, Minett GM, Stewart IB. Female (Under) Representation in Exercise Thermoregulation Research. SPORTS MEDICINE - OPEN 2021; 7:43. [PMID: 34156570 PMCID: PMC8219822 DOI: 10.1186/s40798-021-00334-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2020] [Accepted: 06/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite an increasing rate of women participating in professional sports, emergency services, and military settings where they are exposed to exertional heat stress, our understanding of female thermoregulation and the detrimental effects of heat on women's performance, especially regarding the menstrual cycle, is limited. This review aimed to quantify the representation of women in exercise thermoregulation research between 2010 and 2019 and the frequency that these articles reported details pertaining to female participants' menstrual cycle to determine the volume of novel research that is directly relevant to this growing population. METHODS Original exercise thermoregulatory studies published in three major sports medicine databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, and SPORTDiscus) between 2010 and 2019 were surveyed. Articles were screened to determine the number of female and male participants in the study and whether studies involving women reported menstrual orientation or phase. Research involving healthy adult participants and an exercise protocol with a thermoregulatory outcome measure were included in the review. RESULTS A total of 1407 articles were included in the review, involving 28,030 participants. The annual representation of women ranged from a mean of 11.6% [95% credible interval (CI); 9.2, 14.3] to 17.8% [95% CI; 15.2, 20.6] across the 10 years, indicating studies predominantly included men. Nonetheless, there was a small statistical increase in the overall proportion of women, with a mean overall proportion change of 0.7% [95% CI; 0.2, 1.2] per year. The increase appeared to be driven by a reduction in the number of studies including only men, rather than studies including more women alongside men, or increased women-only studies. Less than one third of articles involving women reported the menstrual orientation of participants and less than one quarter reported both menstrual orientation and phase. This study shows that women were proportionally underrepresented in exercise thermoregulation research during the past decade and the majority of studies did not report menstrual cycle details of female participants. Researchers should consider including women in future work where their inclusion could contribute meaningful data that enhance the evidence-based and ultimately improves our comprehension of women's thermal physiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kate P Hutchins
- Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
| | - David N Borg
- The Hopkins Centre, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Aaron J E Bach
- The National Climate Change Adaption Research Facility, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia
| | - Joshua J Bon
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
- Australian Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Geoffrey M Minett
- Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Ian B Stewart
- Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
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Giles GE, Mahoney CR, Caruso C, Bukhari AS, Smith TJ, Pasiakos SM, McClung JP, Lieberman HR. Two days of calorie deprivation impairs high level cognitive processes, mood, and self-reported exertion during aerobic exercise: A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Brain Cogn 2019; 132:33-40. [PMID: 30831453 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2018] [Revised: 02/14/2019] [Accepted: 02/18/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Military personnel and emergency responders perform cognitively-demanding tasks during periods of sustained physical exertion and limited caloric intake. Cognitive function is preserved during short-term caloric restriction, but it is unclear if preservation extends to combined caloric restriction and physical exertion. According to the "reticular-activating hypofrontality" model, vigorous exertion impairs prefrontal cortex activity and associated functions. This double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study examined cognitive function during sustained exertion while volunteers were calorically-deprived. Twenty-three volunteers were calorie-depleted for two days on one occasion and fully-fed on another. They completed intermittent bouts of exercise at 40-65% VO2peak while prefrontal cortex-dependent tasks of cognitive control, mood, and perceived exertion were assessed. Calorie deprivation impaired accuracy on the task-switching task of set-shifting (p < .01) and decreased sensitivity on the go/no-go task of response inhibition (p < .05). Calorie deprivation did not affect risk taking on the Rogers risk task. During exercise, calorie deprivation, particularly on day 2, increased perceived exertion (p < .05) and impaired mood states of tension, depression, anger, vigor, fatigue, and confusion (all p < .01). Physical exertion during severe calorie deprivation impairs cognitive control, mood, and self-rated exertion. Reallocation of cerebral metabolic resources from the prefrontal cortex to structures supporting movement may explain these deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace E Giles
- Cognitive Science and Applications Team, Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Soldier Center, Natick, MA, USA; Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University and CCDC Soldier Center, Medford, MA, USA.
| | - Caroline R Mahoney
- Cognitive Science and Applications Team, Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Soldier Center, Natick, MA, USA; Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University and CCDC Soldier Center, Medford, MA, USA.
| | - Christina Caruso
- Cognitive Science and Applications Team, Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Soldier Center, Natick, MA, USA; Center for Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Tufts University and CCDC Soldier Center, Medford, MA, USA.
| | - Asma S Bukhari
- Military Nutrition Division, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA, USA; Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, USA.
| | - Tracey J Smith
- Military Nutrition Division, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA, USA.
| | - Stefan M Pasiakos
- Military Nutrition Division, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA, USA.
| | - James P McClung
- Military Nutrition Division, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA, USA.
| | - Harris R Lieberman
- Military Nutrition Division, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA, USA
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Galentino A, Bonini N, Savadori L. Positive Arousal Increases Individuals' Preferences for Risk. Front Psychol 2018; 8:2142. [PMID: 29312030 PMCID: PMC5732211 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2017] [Accepted: 11/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Much is known about the effect of negative arousal on decision making, but little is known about the effect of positive arousal. In this study, we manipulated positive arousal and measured individual choices under risk using an incentivized task. Participants were randomly assigned to either a low arousal or a high arousal condition and asked to choose between pairs of two-outcome monetary lotteries with the same expected value but different risk in terms of outcome variance. The probability was set at 50% for each lottery. Participants in the high arousal group selected the riskier lottery more often and took more time to make choices than participants in the low arousal group. This finding shows that introducing a pleasant arousing cue as part of the decision context shifts an individual’s preferences toward the risky economic option and away from the safer one.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Galentino
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.,Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento, Italy
| | - Nicolao Bonini
- Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Lucia Savadori
- Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
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Gunslingers, poker players, and chickens 2: Decision-making under physical performance pressure in subelite athletes. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2017; 234:317-338. [PMID: 29031469 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2017.08.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Having investigated the influence of acute physical exhaustion on decision-making in world-class elite athletes in Parkin et al. (2017), here a similar method is applied to subelite athletes. These subelite athletes were enrolled on a Team GB talent development program and were undergoing training for possible Olympic competition in 4-8 years. They differ from elite athletes examined previously according to expertise and age. While considered elite (Swann et al., 2015), the subelite athletes had approximately 8 years fewer sporting experience and were yet to obtain sustained success on the international stage. Additionally, the average age of the subelite sample is 20 years; thus, they are still undergoing the behavioral, cognitive, and neuronal changes that occur during the transition from late adolescence to young adulthood (Blakemore and Robbins, 2012). Previous work has used broad definitions of elite status in sport, and as such overlooked different categories within the spectrum of elite athletes (Swann et al., 2015). Therefore it is important to consider subelite athletes as a discrete point on the developmental trajectory of elite sporting expertise. OBJECTIVE This work aims to investigate the influence of physical pressure on key indicators of decision-making in subelite athletes. It forms part of a wider project examining decision-making across different stages of the developmental trajectory in elite sport. In doing so, it aims to examine how to apply and develop psychological insights useful to an elite sporting environment. METHODS 32 subelite athletes (18 males, mean age: 20 years) participated in the study. Performance across three categories of decision-making was assessed under conditions of low and high physical pressure. Decision-making under risk was measured with performance of the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT; Rogers et al., 1999), decision-making under uncertainty with the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART; Lejuez et al., 2002), and fast reactive responses and inhibition via the Stop Signal Reaction Time Task (SSRT; Logan, 1994). Physical exhaustion was induced via intervals of maximal exertion exercise on a wattbike. RESULTS Under pressure subelite athletes showed increased risk taking for both decisions where probability outcomes were explicit (on the CGT), and those where probability outcomes were unknown (on the BART). Despite making quicker decisions under pressure, with fewer errors, on the CGT, subelite athletes showed a reduced ability to optimally adjust betting behavior according to reward and loss contingencies. Fast reactive responses to perceptual stimuli and response inhibition did not change as a result of physical pressure. Individual responses to pressure showed a negative correlation in that a decrease in reaction times on the SSRT Task under pressure was associated with an increase in risk taking on the BART. When assessing the applicability of results based on group averages to individual athletes, 17% of the sample showed an "average" response (within 1 SD of the mean) to pressure across all three decision-making tasks. CONCLUSION Indicators of decision-making in a sample of subelite athletes are influenced by physical pressure, with a shift toward increased indiscriminate risk taking. The influence that physical pressure has on decision-making was different to that observed in world-class elite athletes; this highlights the importance of distinguishing between athletes at the elite level (Swann et al., 2015). The application of this work to a novel subgroup of elite athletes, including the implementation of a decision-making taxonomy, is discussed.
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Gunslingers, poker players, and chickens 3: Decision making under mental performance pressure in junior elite athletes. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2017; 234:339-359. [PMID: 29031471 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2017.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Having investigated the decision making of world class elite and subelite athletes (see Parkin and Walsh, 2017; Parkin et al., 2017), here the abilities of those at the earliest stage of entry to elite sport are examined. Junior elite athletes have undergone initial national selection and are younger than athletes examined previously (mean age 13 years). Decision making under mental pressure is explored in this sample. During performance an athlete encounters a wide array of mental pressures; these include the psychological impact of errors, negative feedback, and requirements for sustained attention in a dynamic environment (Anshel and Wells, 2000; Mellalieu et al., 2009). Such factors increase the cognitive demands of the athletes, inducing distracting anxiety-related thoughts known as rumination (Beilock and Gray, 2007). Mental pressure has been shown to reduce performance of decision-making tasks where reward and loss contingencies are explicit, with a shift toward increased risk taking (Pabst et al., 2013; Starcke et al., 2011). Mental pressure has been shown to be detrimental to decision-making speed in comparison to physical stress, highlighting the importance of considering a range of different pressures encountered by athletes (Hepler, 2015). OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of mental pressure on key indicators of decision making in junior elite athletes. This chapter concludes a wider project examining decision making across developmental stages in elite sport. The work further explores how psychological insights can be applied in an elite sporting environment and in particular tailored to the requirements of junior athletes. METHODS Seventeen junior elite athletes (10 males, mean age: 13.80 years) enrolled on a national youth athletic development program participated in the study. Performance across three categories of decision making was assessed under conditions of low and high mental pressure. Decision making under risk was measured via the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT; Rogers et al., 1999), decision making under uncertainty via the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART; Lejuez et al., 2002), and fast reactive responses to perceptual stimuli via the Visual Search Task (Treisman, 1982). Mental pressure was induced with the addition of a concurrent verbal memory task, used to increase cognitive load and mimic the distracting effects of anxiety-related rumination. RESULTS In junior elite athletes, fast reactive responses to perceptual stimuli (on the Visual Search Task) were slower under conditions of mental pressure. For decision making under risk there was an interaction of mental pressure and gender on the amount of points gambled, under pressure there was a higher level of risk taking in male athletes compared to females. There was no influence of mental pressure on decision making under uncertainity. There were no significant correlations in the degree to which individual's responses changed under pressure across the three measures of decision making. When assessing the applicability of results based on group averages there were no junior elite athletes who showed an "average" response (within 1SD of the mean) to mental pressure across all the three decision-making tasks. CONCLUSION Mental pressure affects decision making in a sample of junior elite athletes, with a slowing of response times, and modulations to performance of decision making under risk that have a high requirement for working memory. In relation to sport, these findings suggest that novel situations that place high cognitive demands on the athlete may be particularly influenced by mental pressure. The application of this work in junior elite athletes included the feedback of individual results and the implementation of a decision-making taxonomy.
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