Investigating real-time physical activity behavior using ecological momentary assessment: Effects of mental fatigue and benefit-cost valuations

Current research investigating the relationship between mental fatigue and physical activity behaviors relies on laboratory-based, experimental studies which lack ecological validity. This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to assess feelings of mental fatigue and subjective evaluations (benefits and costs) as predictors of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity in the everyday lives of young adults. One hundred participants (n = 22 males, n = 78 females, Mage = 20.60 years, 70% meeting or exceeding physical activity guidelines) responded to digital survey prompts up to four times a day and wore an accelerometer for seven consecutive days. Moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity in the 180-min time window following each survey prompt was recorded. Data from the 28 survey-moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity epochs were analyzed using multilevel mixed-effects linear modelling. Higher levels of mental fatigue than one’s average level were associated with engaging in fewer moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity minutes (p = .004) and lower benefit vs. cost scores (p = .001). Higher benefit vs. cost scores than one’s average level were associated with engaging in more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (p