The Effect of False Information during Submaximal Activity on Physiological Responses and Perceived Exertion among Trained and Untrained Individuals

Background: Deceptive manipulations of athletic performance have been investigated mainly in cycling using different workloads and durations.

Purpose: To demonstrate the effect of false information during submaximal activity on physiological responses and perceived exertion among trained and untrained individuals

Methods: Thirty-one male participants were divided into two groups: trained and untrained. Participants performed three 15min submaximal running session, while getting prior false information that running pace will be different in each one of them as follows: 1) Anaerobic threshold (AT) running pace; 2) One km/h slower than AT running pace; 3) One km/h above AT running pace. However, in fact, all three runs were performed at the same pace, equal to the anaerobic threshold level.

Results: No significant differences in average physiological response or in rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were found between sessions among the trained and the untrained groups. However, heart rate and VO₂ were significantly higher in the early stages of the run among the untrained participants when they were falsely informed that running pace would be faster than the AT pace. No significant differences were found at any running stage for the same variables among the trained participants. Also, no significant differences were found for RPE measurement for either the trained or untrained subjects at any running stage.

Conclusions: False information regarding exercise intensity may evoke different physiological responses and RPE among untrained participants. In contrast, false information does not seem to evoke such responses from trained participants.