Application of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis to Endurance Performance: Does Frowning Modulate Perception of Effort?
Résumé
Objectives: People frown during strenuous exercise. Research on the facial feedback hypothesis raises the intriguing
possibility that frowning may modulate (i.e., amplify/soften) perception of effort during endurance performance and
therefore play a causal role in endurance performance. This study examined whether intentionally frowning
throughout a cycling time-to-exhaustion test increased perception of effort and, consequently, reduced time to
exhaustion. This study also examined the effects of frowning on affective states experienced during performance
and after exhaustion.
Design: A randomised, controlled, crossover experimental design was used to compare (within-subjects) the effects
of frowning with control conditions.
Methods: Ten recreational endurance athletes performed cycling time-to-exhaustion tests in three conditions. In a
frowning condition, participants frowned throughout the time-to-exhaustion test. In a matched-workload control
condition, participants pressed their thumb against the ergometer handlebar throughout the test. Electromyography
biofeedback was used to deliver these interventions. There was also a no-intervention control condition. Perception
of effort and exercise-related affect were measured throughout the time-to-exhaustion test, and positive and
negative affective states were measured before and after the test.
Results: Intentionally frowning did not affect perception of effort, affective states experienced while cycling or after
exhaustion, or time to exhaustion.
Conclusions: Frowning may not modulate perception of effort or affective responses during endurance exercise to
exhaustion. Although additional research using different methods would allow firmer conclusions to be drawn, these
findings suggest that interventions that target the expression of a frown would be unlikely to offer an efficacious
method of improving endurance performance.