Dear Colleagues:

Increasing the level of physical activity and reducing the time spent in sedentary activities are essential levers for improving the health of populations. Considerable advances have been made during the last fifty years on the exercise-cognition relationship. Nevertheless, fewer findings are available on the relationship between cognition and exercise adherence to exercise. Yet, sustainably maintaining these active behaviors remains a crucial issue to achieve public health objectives. Despite some fruitful experimental studies showing a causal relationship between cognition and exercise adherence, this relationship remains blurred. Specifically, more research must be done on chronic illnesses, on the relation between cognition and exercise adherence, on durable behavior change conceptual models, and the chronic effects of exercise on adherence. Three perspectives can be proposed: (1) examining the conditions of disengagement vis-à-vis the target behavior, (2) studying the reciprocal influences between the motivations and the cognitive processes at stake in the behavioral change, and (3) reintroducing the experimental approach in the study of behavior change in health. Papers addressing these topics are invited for this Special Issue, especially those combining a high academic standard coupled with a practical focus on providing optimal health behavior change solutions.

Guest Editor

Nathalie André