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The Effect of Acute Exercise on Emotion Regulation

Poster Session A - Saturday, March 7, 2026, 3:00 – 5:00 pm PST, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballrooms

Thomas Rawliuk¹ (rawliukt@myumanitoba.ca), Ryan Ferstl², Emmanuel Santiago³, Chelsea Capellan⁴, Dasha Narkevich⁵, Nick Villenueve⁶, Noah Crossman⁷, Janeen Martin⁸, Steven Greening⁹; ¹University of Manitoba

Background: Physical exercise supports mental health through autonomic and emotion regulation, influencing our ability to up- or down-regulate emotional reactions and consolidate them into memory. This two-experiment study examined the acute effects of moderate-intensity continuous exercise on emotion regulation. Methods: In two experiments, participants completed 30-minutes of exercise or sitting (control) on an ergometer, then completed an emotion regulation task involving passive viewing or reappraisal of emotional pictures while physiological responses were recorded. Participants rated how negative and positive the photos made them feel either immediately (experiment 1) or 24-hours after (experiment 2) reappraising or viewing them. During affective rating of previously seen photos, new photos were intermixed to measure aspects of memory, specifically photo familiarity and source monitoring. A 2×2 mixed design was used with condition (view vs reappraise) and group (exercise vs control) as independent variables. Results: In experiment 1, negative affect was significantly lower during reappraisal compared to passive viewing, and skin conductance responses (SCR) did not significantly differ. In experiment 2, SCRs were lower during reappraisal compared to passive viewing across groups. Negative affect ratings showed a significant Group × Condition interaction, with reappraisal reducing negative affect more in the exercise group. Discussion & Conclusion: Exercise did not immediately improve emotion regulation or autonomic response but strengthened potentially delayed memory-related reappraisal effects. Exercising led to greater reductions in negative affect 24-hours later when rating previously seen images, suggesting that while acute exercise does not enhance immediate regulation, it may bolster the lasting emotional benefits of reappraisal.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Emotion-cognition interactions