D.L. Smith, S.J. Petruzzello, J.A. Woods, M.A. Chludzinski & J.J. Reed; Skidmore Coll., Saratoga Springs, NY; Univ.of Illinois and Covenant M.C., Urbana, IL The purpose of this study was to describe changes in blood chemistry, blood volume, and blood cell counts following strenuous firefighting activities performed in a building that contained live fires. Subjects were […]

T Van Staveren, S Achord, EE Hall, P Ekkekakis, & SJ Petruzzello, PhD, FACSM, Department of Kinesiology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL Both aerobic exercise and relaxation training have been show to improve well-being through reductions in negative affect and enhancement of positive affect. This study examined the effects of exercise and guided relaxation on […]

EE Hall & SJ Petruzzello, PhD, FACSM, Department of Kinesiology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL Physical activity has been consistently linked with better mental health (e.g., less anxiety, depression; more positive affect, satisfaction with life). Brain activation has also been linked to mental health, with greater relative left activation being related to more global positive […]

E.E. Hall, P. Ekkekakis, & S.J. Petruzzello, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 Examination of affective responses to acute exercise using asymmetrical regional brain activation has shown resting EEG asymmetry to be a biological marker of an individual’s predisposition to respond affectively to aerobic exercise. Greater resting left anterior hemisphere activation, relative to the right, […]

S.J. Petruzzello, E.E. Hall, & P. Ekkekakis, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 Psychophysiology has become an important avenue for understanding various affective and cognitive phenomena within the exercise sciences. In particular, the use of EEG as a measure of brain activation has seen increasing use in recent years. Numerous discrepancies exist in the literature […]

E.E. Hall, P. Ekkekakis, & S.J. Petruzzello, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 Asymmetrical regional brain activation has been shown to be a biological marker of the predisposition to respond affectively to aerobic exercise. Unknown is the extent to which fitness may influence this relationship. Regional brain activation (via EEG: F3, F4, P3, P4; referenced […]

Van Landuyt, L.M., Ekkekakis, P., Hall, E.E., & Petruzzello, S.J., University of Illinois Researchers have proposed that exercise must exceed a relatively high threshold of intensity (>60% VO2 max) and duration (> 20-min) to produce positive affective changes, despite equivocal findings. The present investigations examined the effects of 10-minute walks, at a self-selected pace, in ecologically […]

Ekkekakis, P., Hall, E.E., & Petruzzello, S.J., University of Illinois The SAI (Spielberger, 1983) has been criticized for exhibiting reduced internal consistency in the context of acute aerobic exercise and for confounding activation with affective valence, producing potentially invalid total state anxiety scores during and post-exercise. Two studies evaluated the psychometric properties of the SAI […]

Hall, E.E., Ekkekakis, P., Van Landuyt, L.M., & Petruzzello, S.J., University of Illinois Previous research has reliably documented that resting EEG frontal asymmetry (greater left frontal activation, relative to right) is a significant predictor of positive affective responses to aerobic exercise performed for 30 minutes at intensities at or above 70% of VO2max. The purpose […]