Behaviors minimizing energetic cost: A reward?
Description: <p>Today, one-third of the adult population remains physically inactive and 80% of the adolescent population does not reach the recommended amount of physical activity. This project aims to understand why do people fail to exercise regularly despite knowledge of the risks associated with physical inactivity? For the first time, I hypothesized that a general attraction toward effort minimization may explain this exercise paradox. A program of research will be conducted to demonstrate that stimuli associated with effort minimization are attention grabbing, associated with positive affective reactions, trigger approach behaviors, and activate the brain regions typically involved in reward processing. This project can change the way scientists think about physical activity and can open new possibilities to understand, and ultimately tackle, the pandemic of physical inactivity.</p>
Amount: CHF 700,000
Funding type: fellowship
Funder scheme: Ambizione
Start date: 2019-06-01
End date: 2023-08-31
Investigator: Cheval, Boris
Institution: University of Geneva – GE
Funded outputs count: 55
Funder award ID: 180040
OpenAlex ID: G7996364693