Understanding the influence of a cognitively demanding task on motor response times and subjective mental fatigue/boredom

Authors

  • Chris Thompson Institute of Sport and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany; Sport and Exercise Discipline Group, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Moore Park, Australia - cthompson@wit.ie
  • Job Fransen Sport and Exercise Discipline Group, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Moore Park, Australia
  • Adam Beavan Institute of Sport and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany; Sport and Exercise Discipline Group, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Moore Park, Australia; German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund; DFB), Frankfurt, Germany
  • Sabrina Skorski Institute of Sport and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
  • Aaron Coutts Sport and Exercise Discipline Group, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Moore Park, Australia
  • Tim Meyer Institute of Sport and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20338/bjmb.v14i01.167

Keywords:

Mental fatigue, boredom, Stroop.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Several methods are used to induce mental fatigue; predominantly the modified Stroop task, which arguably has little relation to daily lifestyle tasks.

AIM: To investigate the influence of the modified Stroop task on mental fatigue, boredom and motor response times.

METHOD: 15 subjects (24.3±2.3 years) completed a 30-min modified Stroop task (control condition: 30-min reading) and completed PRE, POST and POST 5-min subjective ratings of mental fatigue, mental effort and boredom. Participants' ability to use congruent and inhibit incongruent precues in a choice reaction time task (CRTT) was measured pre- and post- Stroop and control.

RESULTS: Significantly higher subjective ratings of pre-post condition mental fatigue (pre:2.43±1.31 AU, post: 6.42±2.08 AU,p<0.01) and boredom (PRE: 1.65±1.49 AU, POST: 5.03±2.92 AU,p<0.01) were reported following the modified Stroop task condition compared to the control condition mental fatigue (PRE: 1.62±1.17 AU, POST: 2.10±0.92 AU,p>0.05) and boredom (PRE: 1.94±1.52 AU, POST: 3.32 ± 1.66 AU,p>0.05). No significant differences were found between conditions for the extent to which participants’ response times were affected by congruent (p=0.481) or incongruent (p=0.225) precues.

CONCLUSION: Future research must adopt cognitive activities with higher contextual interference for greater ecological validity, and elucidate the impact of rest on recovery from mental fatigue.

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Published

2020-04-01

How to Cite

Thompson, C., Fransen, J., Beavan, A., Skorski, S., Coutts, A., & Meyer, T. (2020). Understanding the influence of a cognitively demanding task on motor response times and subjective mental fatigue/boredom . Brazilian Journal of Motor Behavior, 14(1), 33–45. https://doi.org/10.20338/bjmb.v14i01.167

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Section

Research Articles

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