Automatic Reaction to Physical Activity and Sedentary Stimuli in Aging

January 26, 2023 updated by: Matthieu Boisgontier, University of Ottawa

Retraining the Automatic Reaction to Physical Activity and Sedentary Stimuli in Adults 60 Years of Age or Older

Most individuals are aware of the benefits to health of regular physical activity and have good intentions to exercise. Yet, 1.4 billion people worldwide are inactive, which suggests that turning intention into action can be challenging. Recent findings show that the intention-action gap could be explained by negative automatic reactions (which is a component of dual-task theory) to stimuli associated with physical activity. This gap is particularly concerning in older adults, who are more likely to spontaneously associate physical activity with fear, pain, or discomfort. To promote physical activity, the current project proposes to train older adults to suppress their automatic attraction toward sedentary stimuli and to respond positively to physical-activity stimuli. This evidence-based and low-cost intervention aims to improve physical functioning and quality of life for these population. The results will inform public-health policies and improve clinical interventions that aim to counteract a global health problem: the pandemic of physical inactivity.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Physical activity is one of the top contributors to health, reducing rates of cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and depression. This wide spectrum of benefits is particularly important for older adults, who often suffer structural and functional deterioration in several physiological systems. Physical activity can reduce and delay the impact of this age-related deterioration in health and functional independence. Current interventions to enhance physical activity in older adults rely mainly on reflective processes by providing rational information about the health benefits of a physically active lifestyle. While these interventions successfully increase intention, their effect on actual behavior is weak. That is, most individuals are now aware of the positive effects of regular physical activity and have the intention to exercise. However, this intention is not sufficient and exercise plans are often not executed. This gap between intention and action is a challenge that health professionals need to address to counteract the pandemic of physical inactivity. Recent findings suggest that this inability to turn the intention into action is explained by negative automatic reactions to stimuli associated with physical activity. These automatic reactions could be particularly strong in older adults, who are more likely to associate physical activity with fear, pain, or discomfort. This study aims to test the effect of an intervention that targets the automatic processes underlying physical inactivity in older adults. The intervention is expected to reduce physical inactivity during the intervention and at follow-up, thereby improving physical functioning and quality of life.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

216

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- 60 years of age or older and able to understand instructions in English.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosed psychiatric disorders or neurological condition (e.g., stork, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, dementia)
  • Unable to carry out the training program
  • Unable to understand the protocol
  • Motor deficit preventing physical activity without external help
  • Physical health status preventing physical activity
  • Alcohol or substance dependence.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Adjusted and modified Cognitive-Biased Modification Task
The intervention is based on a Go/No-Go task.
Behavioral: Adjusted Cognitive-biased modification task
The intervention of the proposed project is based on a go/no-go task in which older adults need to quickly decide whether or not they should react to the stimulus. A rectangle containing an image, or a word will be presented on a screen. In the intervention group, older adults will be instructed to restrain their actions when the rectangle is tilted to the right and to react by pressing a key on the keyboard when the rectangle is tilted to the left, irrespective of the content of the rectangle (because the training is meant to be implicit). In order to train inhibitory processes counteracting the automatic attraction to sedentary behavior, 90% of the rectangles tilted to the right (counterbalanced across participants) will contain a picture or a word related to sedentary behavior. To foster the automatic attraction toward physical activity, 90% of the rectangles tilted to the left will contain a picture or a word related to physical activity.
Placebo Comparator: Normal Cognitve-Biased modification Task
The Sham-intervention is based on a Go/No-Go task.
Behavioral: Cognitive-biased modification task
In the comparison group, instructions will be identical, but the percentage of physical activity and sedentary stimuli will be equal in each tilt condition (i.e., 50% sedentary stimuli and 50% physical activity stimuli in both right- and left-tilted rectangles)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Physical activity Tracker
Time Frame: "7 days", at least "7 hours" per day (not to used it during shower or when they sleep at night).
Assessing the number of step.
"7 days", at least "7 hours" per day (not to used it during shower or when they sleep at night).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
International Physical Activity Questionnaire (Short Form)
Time Frame: Before and after intervention ("10 minutes" to fill out)
The usual level of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in minutes per week will be assessed.
Before and after intervention ("10 minutes" to fill out)
Six-Minute Walk Test
Time Frame: Before and after intervention ("6 minutes" to carry out)
Total distance walked in "6 minutes" will be documented. The outcome is the distance walked during the "6 minutes".
Before and after intervention ("6 minutes" to carry out)
Hand grip strength
Time Frame: Before and after intervention ( "One minute" to carry out)
The grip strength will be evaluated using a dynamometer. The higher the value obtained by the participant, the stronger the grip.
Before and after intervention ( "One minute" to carry out)
World Health Organization Quality of Life (BREF)
Time Frame: Before and after intervention ( "20 minutes" to carry out)
Assessing quality of life over four domains. Scores for each domain can range from zero to 100, with higher scores indicating better quality of life.
Before and after intervention ( "20 minutes" to carry out)
Approach-avoidance task
Time Frame: Before and after intervention, and at the beginning of each intervention session ("30 minutes" to carry out)
To measure automatic approach and avoidance tendencies toward physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Faster and the more accurate reaction toward a stimuli (e.g., physical activity) indicates a stronger tendency to approach that specific stimuli.
Before and after intervention, and at the beginning of each intervention session ("30 minutes" to carry out)
Explicit Affective Attitude Toward Physical Activity
Time Frame: Before and after intervention ("2-5 minute" to carry out)
Mean of two items based on two "7-point" scales (unpleasant-pleasant; unenjoyable-enjoyable). A higher score indicates more positive attitudes toward physical activity.
Before and after intervention ("2-5 minute" to carry out)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Ottawa

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Matthieu P Boisgontier, PhD, University of Ottawa

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Anticipated)

September 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

September 1, 2024

Study Completion (Anticipated)

September 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 10, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 26, 2023

First Posted (Estimate)

January 30, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 30, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 26, 2023

Last Verified

January 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • H-09-22-8453

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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