Matthieu BOISGONTIER : Effort Minimization and Physical Activity BehaviorBOISGONTIER Matthieu

Summary: During the past two decades, governments have encouraged people to be more physically active. As a result, most individuals are now aware of the positive effects of regular physical activity...

Summary: During the past two decades, governments have encouraged people to be more physically active. As a result, most individuals are now aware of the positive effects of regular physical activity and have the intention to exercise. However, despite this intention, plans are often not executed and gradually scaling up actions promoting physical activity across the years has proved to be ineffective, as we are actually becoming less active. From 2010 to 2016, the number of inactive adults has increased by 5% worldwide, now affecting more than 1 in 4 adults (1.4 billion people). In Europe, the picture is not better. So, why are we unable to implement our intention to be physically active? We hypothesized that this intention-action gap can be explained by automatic brain processes supporting an attraction toward effort minimization that require cognitive resources to be counteracted. In my talk, I will present the results of neurobehavioral and epidemiological studies testing this hypothesis.

Biography : Matthieu is an Assistant Professor at the School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Canada. His education includes an MSc in Kinesiology (STAPS), an MSc in Physiotherapy (MKDE), and a Ph.D. (2012) that focused on aging and proprioception at the Université Grenoble Alpes. During his 8-year postdoc in Europe and Canada, one of his lines of research was to investigate the effects of aging on bimanual coordination, postural balance, and action selection using neuroimaging techniques. More recently, Matthieu has investigated the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying the inability to turn the intention to be physically active into action. To know more about Matthieu, you can visit his website http://matthieuboisgontier.com

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