The Effects Of Mental Simulation On Exersice Intention And Behavior

Human being can use the mind to monitor and change our exercise intentions transfer into behaviors effectively.As a special appearance ability that can change behavioral intention,mental simulation has significant application value for people to achieve persistent exercise behavior.This study subdivides mental simulations to explore the effects of the types of mental simulations on exercise intention and behavior.Study 1,two studies both used one-factor experimental design to explore the influence of the priming of mental simulation on exercise intention.Study 1a aimed to prove that mental simulation has a priming effect on exercise intention.72 ordinary college students,the independent variable was mental simulation,and the dependent variable was exercise intention.The results revealed that mental simulation had a positive priming effect on exercise intention.Study 1b aimed to explore the effect of priming methods on exercise intention.The independent variable was the priming methods of mental simulation,and the dependent variable was the exercise intention.100 ordinary college students were randomly assigned to three experimental groups.The results showed that the mental simulation initiated by the video improves the training intention better than the semantic and the pictures.Study 2 aimed to explore the effect of the forms of mental simulation on exercise intention and behavior,also the law of EEG changes during simulating.Study 2a used2(process simulation)× 2(outcome simulation)between-subjects experimental design.The dependent variables were exercise intention and one-time exercise behavior.130 ordinary college students used video to prime mental simulation.The experimental procedure was basically the same as Experiment 1b,and the dependent variable was the one-time exercise behavior within 24 hours after the experiment.It was found that process simulation and outcome simulation have no main effect on the promotion of exercise intention,but there are interaction effects,that is,the effect of mental simulation based on process simulation at different levels of outcome simulation on exercise intention is significantly different.It had no effect on the actual one-time exercise behavior.Study 2b was intended to provide a physiological explanation for Study 2a.Participants were 40 ordinary college students.On the basis of Study 2a,EEG monitoring was added,and the dependent variable was the power distribution of the EEG band in each brain region.The EEG results indicated that there are mainly movement imagery,visual imagery,etc.,as well as emotional changes during the mental simulation.Study 3 aimed to explore the effect of the form and number of mental simulations on exercise behavior within a week.A mixed experimental design of 2(types)× 2(forms)× 2(times)was adopted,and the dependent variable was the physical activity score.80 ordinary college students were randomly assigned to four experimental groups.The intervention method was the same as experiment 2a with the online tracking method.The results showed that within one week,the main effect of the number of simulations was significant,and exercise-related mental simulations performed once a day to improve exercise behavior were more effective than simulations performed only once a week at the beginning.The forms of mental simulation had no main effect on the promotion of exercise behavior.Conclusion:(1)Mental simulation has a positive effect on exercise intention and behavior.(2)The simulation of the negative results with smooth process and the positive results with challenging process are better for promoting the exercise intention and behavior than the positive results with smooth process and the negative results with challenging process.(3)The timeliness of mental simulation is short.It is better to simulate once a day than once only to improve the exercise behavior.(4)In the actual intervention of exercise intention and behavior,it is better to choose the simulation of the negative results with smooth process and the simulation of the positive results with challenging process,and repeat the simulation in a planned way.