PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPONENTS OF EFFORT SENSE

The perception of effort is multidimensional and it is governed by man y physiological, psychological, and experiential factors. This paper d eals with a discussion of selected psychological states and traits tha t are known to be correlated with the expression of effort sense. It h as been shown that anxiety, somatic perception, depression, and neurot icism are associated with perceived exertion. Extroversion has been fo und to be inversely correlated with perceived exertion, and positively correlated with preferred exercise intensity. These empirical finding s are congruent with theoretical expectations in each case. It has als o been found that perception of effort can be increased and decreased in a systematic manner with various psychological interventions such a s hypnotic suggestion, dissociative cognitive strategies, and imagery. Changes in effort sense can also be systematically modified by titrat ing exercise volume (e.g., overtraining, tapering), and this exercise- induced alteration in perception covaries with affective changes. The research reviewed in this paper supports the conclusion that effort se nse is best conceptualized as a complex psychobiological construct as originally proposed by Borg three decades ago.