New research published in the journal biopsychology Exercising individuals showed increased brain activity, especially in the right medial orbitofrontal cortex, upon receiving an unexpected reward. These findings may suggest that regular exercise may alter reward circuit function and enhance motor behavior.
The physical and mental health benefits of exercise are widely known, but finding motivation to exercise can be difficult. Looking inside the brain could reveal ways to encourage people to maintain healthy exercise habits, the study’s authors said. More specifically, the dopamine reward system may play a role in motivating people to exercise, and study authors propose that regular exercise can alter the brain’s reward response. Did.
“My background is in eating disorder research, and these people frequently engage in very high amounts of exercise. , especially dopamine-related reward processing,” said study author Guido K.W. Franck of the University of California, San Diego.
Researchers examined brain activity during a reward prediction error (RPE) task. RPE is when a person receives an unexpected outcome of an event and dopamine neurons send out a signal. This unexpected outcome can be positive, such as receiving the expected reward, or negative, such as unexpectedly being deprived of the reward. The RPE is thought to reflect motivational salience, the cognitive process that guides a person’s actions toward positive outcomes. Researchers speculated that people who exercise more often may have stronger saliency responses in their dopamine system.
“The type of reward system response we are looking at responds to receipt of an unexpected stimulus: excitement for unexpected receipt of a reward, unexpected absence of a stimulus, or expected reward. I would say my disappointment is that I didn’t receive it,” Frank told PsyPost. “The stimulus we use is the taste stimulus sucrose or water.”
A group of 111 healthy women participated in a task to elicit dopamine-related RPE responses. This task involved the classic sucrose taste regulation paradigm, in which participants learned to expect or not expect a sucrose reward. Throughout the task, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure participants’ brain activity. Additionally, the women reported how much cardio they were doing each week.
The researchers then analyzed the fMRI data and focused on brain responses when participants unexpectedly, unexpectedly did not receive, or expectedly received a sucrose reward. In all, increased locomotion was associated with stronger responses in the right medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). However, after correcting for multiple comparisons, this heightened activity was only noticeable during unanticipated reception conditions.
“The greater the amount of aerobic/aerobic exercise, the higher the brain response (orbitofrontal cortex, an area between the eyes important for assessing reward) when participants were unexpectedly given a sugar stimulus. but it didn’t affect unexpected stimulus omission or response to stimuli, which was disappointing,” Frank explained. “We believe that more exercise can change the brain to make it more enjoyable to receive unexpected rewards.”
In particular, the right medial OFC is involved in goal-directed decision-making and reward value calculation. Our findings may suggest that exercise strengthens this circuit and promotes higher brain activity in the OFC. Alternatively, higher OFC activity may enhance motor engagement.
“Thus, individuals who engage in more aerobic activity may be inherently more sensitive to receiving salient stimuli, particularly stimuli,” the researchers wrote. It reflexively reinforces motor behavior and maintains it functionally. ” The authors note that both of these explanations may be true.
Overall, the results suggest a link between aerobic exercise and the brain’s response to unexpected rewards. “Exercise, in particular, may enhance the ability to appreciate and enjoy stimuli and experiences, which may be important for interventions in psychiatric disorders,” the authors said. overt responses are characteristic of many psychiatric disorders.” If exercise is found to improve motivational salience, this may reveal potential treatment options for affected individuals. .
Among its limitations, this study was cross-sectional and future longitudinal studies will be needed to draw stronger conclusions from the data. It is unclear whether the findings reflect the effects of overall activity level or true aerobic exercise.
“We cannot pinpoint exactly which neurotransmitters are involved, and a larger study sample may indicate that higher aerobic exercise also prevents disappointment.” , can help you enjoy things more, be happier, and feel less disappointed when something doesn’t go the way you thought it would.”
“It’s important that this was a study in healthy controls and that their exercise levels were within normal limits,” he added. It does not have a positive effect on health, as it can lead to significant weight loss and the development of eating disorders.”
The study “Aerobic Exercise and Dopamine-Related Reward Processing: Informing Models of Human Exercise Engagement” was authored by Sasha Gorrell, Megan E. Shott, and Guido KW Frank.
