Exercise and Cognitive Bias Modification Training in Adults:Effects on Self-Reported Anxiety

In the last couple of decades, evidence has gathered that individuals suffering from anxiety tend to interpret ambiguous information as threatening. Taking the causal role of this interpretative bias in anxiety, it has been confirmed that modifying these biases in clinical and non- clinical populations can influence anxiety symptoms and its future vulnerability. The present study was designed to investigate the potential relationship between threat-related biases in anxiety and exercise. It examined the effect of a single session of exercise (walking) and Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) training on ambiguous interpretive biases. Healthy adult participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: exercise and positive CBM training, exercise or a control condition (n = 3 x 12). They attended a single session of exercise and a session of training on the same day. Those in the exercise group were less state and trait-anxious after completion of the experiment on a measure of state and trait anxiety inventory (STAI), compared to both the controls and those in exercise and positive CBM condition. Additionally, no significant effects were observed on state anxiety in the exercise plus CBM group, though they were less trait- anxious after completion of the training. The mixed pattern of findings renders them inconclusive, leaving interpretations of the potential therapeutic benefits of positive CBM training open for future research.