Relationship between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Physiological Responses to Films

Abstract

Subjects' physiological responses and rated reactions to a medical film and an erotic film were assessed. Later cardiovascular fitness levels were determined by subjects' physiological responses to an exercise task. The greater the increase in the subject's systolic blood pressure after exercise and the slower the recovery, the lower the fitness level. A median split on the fitness scores of males and females separately was used to determine levels of relatively low and high fitness. Subjects in low fitness had significantly greater sympathetic-arousal responses to the two films as measured in systolic blood-pressure increases and skin-temperature decreases. Subjects in the two fitness levels did not differ in ratings of their own physiological or emotional responses to the films. Reported interoception of the magnitude of physiological responses was inaccurate, especially for subjects in low fitness.