Perceived Exertion Scaling Procedures

Abstract

Borg has developed and validated two empirical models that explain: (a) psychophysiological interdependence during exercise (i.e., Effort Continua Model) and (b) provide the psychophysical justification for inter-individual comparisons of effort ratings. Borg’s Effort Continua Model describes the functional interdependence of perceptual and physiological responses during exercise. The model provides valuable information regarding the corresponding and interdependent responses of exertional perceptions and underlying physiological mediators as exercise performance intensity increases. Borg’s Range Model predicts that for all clinically normal individuals, there exists corresponding and equal perceptual and physiological/physical response ranges during exercise. This model provides the psychophysical rationale for perceived exertion scaling procedures. There are two types of category scale anchoring: (a) memory procedures and (b) exercise procedures. Memory procedures involve asking the individual to think about the level of exertion perceived during previous PA that they have performed and use this exertional memory to establish their feelings that correspond to the low and high response categories. Exercise procedures involve the individual actually experiencing levels of exertion from a very low to a very high or maximal level and cognitively assigning corresponding low and high scale categories to the intensity of these sensations. The use of both procedures depends on an individual’s previous experience with rating exertional perceptions that varied widely in intensity and mode. The rationale underlying the experimental purpose of the investigation is embedded in the basic tenet of Borg’s Effort Continua Model and Range Model. The primary purpose of this laboratory experiment is to orient an individual to the use of a perceived exertion category metric during aerobic and/or resistance exercise using both memory and exercise scale anchoring procedures.