Acute Effects of Competitive Exercise on Risk-Taking in a Sample of Adolescent Male Athletes

The relationship between ostracism and negative risk-taking behavior: the role of ego depletion and physical exercise

Background

As a major public health problem globally, negative risk-taking behavior of college students may be related to their ostracism experience, but the reason for this association is unclear. Based on the limited resource theory, combined with the integrative model of athletic performance, we tested a moderated mediation model in which ego depletion mediated the association between ostracism and risk-taking, and physical exercise moderated the mediation process to examine the mechanisms underlying the association between ostracism and negative risk-taking behavior.

Methods

One thousand three hundred seven students (43% female) from four universities in China were recruited using cluster random sampling. The experience of being ostracized, ego depletion, physical exercise level, and negative risk-taking behavior were measured through an anonymous online questionnaire in "www.sojump.com."

Results

After controlling for gender and grade in college, ostracism was positively related to negative risk-taking behavior; ego depletion mediated this relationship; and physical exercise level attenuated these direct and indirect relationships.

Conclusion

The results highlight individual risk and protective factors associated with negative risk-taking behavior, and provide new perspectives on ways to prevent and reduce college students' negative risk-taking behavior.

Acute Effects of Exercise on Risk-Taking: Different Responses in Males and Females

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, η_p² = .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, η_p² = .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.

A Bayesian method for measuring risk propensity in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) is widely-used to measure risk propensity in theoretical, clinical, and applied research. In the task, people choose either to pump a balloon to increase its value at the risk of the balloon bursting and losing all value, or to bank the current value of the balloon. Risk propensity is most commonly measured as the average number of pumps on trials for which the balloon does not burst. Burst trials are excluded because they necessarily underestimate the number of pumps people intended to make. However, their exclusion discards relevant information about people's risk propensity. A better measure of risk propensity uses the statistical method of censoring to incorporate all of the trials. We develop a new Bayesian method, based on censoring, for measuring both risk propensity and behavioral consistency in the BART. Through applications to previous data we demonstrate how the method can be extended to consider the correlation of risk propensity with external measures, and to compare differences in risk propensity between groups. We provide implementations of all of these methods in R, MATLAB, and the GUI-based statistical software JASP.

Powder Fever and Its Impact on Decision-Making in Avalanche Terrain

We examined the effect of emotions, associated with "powder fever", on decision-making in avalanche terrain.

BACKGROUND

Skiing in avalanche terrain is a voluntary activity that exposes the participant to potentially fatal risk. Impaired decision-making in this context can therefore have devastating results, often with limited prior corrective feedback and learning opportunities. Previous research has suggested that arousal caused by emotions affects risk assessment and intentions to engage in risky behavior. We propose that powder fever may induce similar responses.

METHODS

We used the following two experimental methods: laboratory studies with visual visceral stimuli (ski movies) and a field study with real stimuli (skiing exciting terrain). We evaluated the effect of emotions on attention, risk assessment, and willingness to expose oneself and others to risk.

RESULTS

Both the laboratory studies and the field study showed that skiing-related stimuli had a relatively strong effect on reported emotions. However, we found very few significant effects on decision-making or assessment of risk.

CONCLUSIONS

Skiing activities make people happier. However, despite the clear parallels to sexual arousal, powder fever does not appear to significantly impair decision-making in our study. More research on the effects of powder fewer on milder forms of risk-taking behavior is needed.

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

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% VO_2peak 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.

Risks Seem Low While Climbing High: Shift in Risk Perception and Error Rates in the Course of Indoor Climbing Activities

Little is known about people’s risk perception while participating in potentially harmful activities. In a field study conducted in a climbing gym, we investigated how the climbing activity influences climbers’ risk perception and error rates. Based on research on embodiment, we argue that the perception of risks may differ between being in an active state during climbing and being in an inactive state before or after climbing. In addition to subjective risk perception, error rates were observed as an objective measure of behavior that increase the risk for accidents. Experience was included as a potential moderator because indoor climbing is also accessible to inexperienced people. Drawing on the affect heuristic, we hypothesized that experienced climbers are guided by their intuitions, which makes them less susceptible for influences of their physical state when judging climbing risks. Less experienced climbers need to rely more on deliberative thinking and their judgments may be more distorted by the effects of being in an active state. Climbers were asked to judge climbing risks at five points in time (twice before, twice during and once after climbing in a gym). In addition, the amount and type of climbing errors was observed at two points in time during the activity. We recruited 57 participants (32% female) in a large climbing gym in Germany, who were between 18 and 57 years of age. Results show that participants’ perception of climbing risks generally decreased during the activity phase as opposed to the pre-activity phase, while error rates increased. Higher experience was associated with lower risk perception, but also more errors. Further, experience may weaken the influence of physical activity on risk perception. In higher risk sports people have to make important decisions while being active. Our results suggest that especially climbers need to be aware that being physically active can distort their risk perception.

Gunslingers, poker players, and chickens 2: Decision-making under physical performance pressure in subelite athletes

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.

Effects of acute and chronic caffeine on risk-taking behavior in children and adolescents

Consumption of caffeinated beverages is associated with increased risk-taking behavior. The purpose of this study was to determine if acute caffeine administration influences risk-taking behavior in a dose-dependent manner. Participants were pre- (ages 8-9) and post-pubertal (ages 15-17) children who visited the laboratory three times and consumed a beverage containing 0, 1, or 2 mg/kg of caffeine. Thirty minutes later, participants completed the balloon analogue risk task (BART), the Iowa gambling task (IGT), and a delay discounting task. The number of balloons exploded on the BART task was significantly increased after 2 mg/kg of caffeine in moderate caffeine consumers, but was decreased after 2 mg/kg of caffeine in high caffeine consumers. There were no main effects of caffeine dose on the delay discounting task or on the IGT. Post-pubertal participants showed reduced delay discounting compared with pre-pubertal participants. Finally, average daily caffeine use was significantly, positively correlated with scores on a risk-taking questionnaire. These data suggest that caffeine dose-dependently influences decision making and risk taking. More research is needed to determine the mechanism of this difference as well as the extent to which sex and pubertal phase influence these relationships.

Exercise in personal protective equipment in a hot, humid environment does not affect risk propensity

We tested the hypothesis that heat stress created by light exertion in encapsulating personal protective equipment (PPE) in a hot, humid environment increases risk propensity. Ten healthy subjects (29 ± 7 y) completed 2 trials presented in a counter-balanced manner. Subjects donned encapsulating PPE, and in one trial they wore a tube-lined shirt underneath that was perfused with 5°C water. Subjects completed 2 15 min bouts of walking exercise on a treadmill at ˜50% maximal heart rate in a 32°C, 81% RH environment. Subjects completed the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), an objective measure of risk-taking, before, between the 2 exercise bouts, and following the final exercise bout. Personal cooling lowered (P < 0.01) mean skin temperature by 8.0 ± 1.6°C. Intestinal temperature rose (P < 0.01) in both trials, but was lower (P < 0.01) at the end of exercise in the cooling trial (38.0 ± 0.3°C vs. 37.6 ± 0.3°C). BART derived indices of risk propensity were not affected by trial or time (trial × time interaction: P ≥ 0.33). These data indicate that 60 min of exposure to mild heat stress created by light exertion in encapsulating PPE does not affect risk-taking behavior.