Pothakos, K., & Kubitz, K. A. (1998). Effects of aerobic exercise and fitness on brain and self-reported activation. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 30(5), Supplement abstract 663.

Two hypotheses were evaluated:

• Brain activation and self-reported activation would increase during exercise and decrease after exercise.
• Aerobic fitness would moderate changes in brain activation and self-reported activation.

It was found that:

• Brain activation increased during exercise and remained elevated during recovery.
• Self-reported activation increased during exercise but returned to baseline during recovery.
• Aerobic fitness did not moderate the effects of exercise on brain activation or self-reported activation.

Implication. Self-reports of exercise effects are unreliable for actually estimating true activation states.

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