Residual Effects of Mental Fatigue on Subjective Fatigue, Reaction Time and Cardiac Responses

Authors

  • Adalberto Ferreira Junior Department of Physical Education, Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), PR, Brazil.
  • Priscila Chierotti Department of Physical Education, Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), PR, Brazil.
  • Juliano M Gabardo Department of Physical Education, Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), PR, Brazil.
  • Bruno Giovanini Department of Physical Education, Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), PR, Brazil.
  • Alexandre H Okano Universidade Federal do ABC. Center of Mathematics, Computing, and Cognition. São Bernardo do Campos, São Paulo, Brazil.
  • Cosme F Buzzachera Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine - University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
  • Victor H. A Okazaki Department of Physical Education, Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), PR, Brazil.
  • Nilo M Okuno Department of Physical Education, Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa (UEPG), PR, Brazil.
  • Leandro R Altimari Department of Physical Education, Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), PR, Brazil.

Keywords:

Cognitive fatigue, Cognitive exertion, Exertion psychological, Cardiac autonomic activity

Abstract

This study investigated the residual effects of mental fatigue induced by the 30-minute incongruent Stroop Color Word task on subjectively perceived fatigue, reaction time, and heart rate variability (HRV) in 20 adult volunteers (10 men; 10 women). Dependent variables were assessed before, immediately after, and at 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes after two conditions: (a) a 30-minute incongruent Stroop Color Word task (mental fatigue condition); or (b) a 30-minute control condition. At pre-testing, there were no significant differences between experimental conditions for any variable. However, there was a residual effect of mental fatigue on psychological responses for up to ~15 minutes after the experimental manipulation (p < 0.01). For the reaction time task, significant differences were observed only immediately after the mental fatigue, compared to the control condition (p < 0.0001). There were no significant differences between experimental conditions for any parameters of HRV at any testing period. In addition, there were no significant gender related differences at any period or in either condition for any variable. The data suggest that mental fatigue can alter psychological responses for up to ~15 min after its induction, and mental fatigue may impair cognitive reaction time performance without changing autonomic cardiac responses.

Mean ± SD of reaction time task before, immediately after, and each 15 min after the experimental condition (15, 30, 45, and 60 min). * Significantly different from before experimental condition (p < .05). # Significantly different from control condition at the same period (p < 0.05).

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Published

2020-09-30

How to Cite

Junior, A. F., Chierotti, P. ., Gabardo, J. M., Giovanini, B., Okano, A. H., Buzzachera, C. F., … Altimari, L. R. (2020). Residual Effects of Mental Fatigue on Subjective Fatigue, Reaction Time and Cardiac Responses. Revista De Psicología Del Deporte (Journal of Sport Psychology), 29(2), 27–34. Retrieved from https://rpd-online.com/index.php/rpd/article/view/26

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 2 (2020): Journal of Sport Psychology

Section

Original Article