Giboin, L. S.; Gruber, M.; Schüler, J.; Wolff, W. (4 July 2018). Does the Labour/Leisure Model Translate into the Regulation of a Strenuous Physical Task? In: Murphy, M.; Boreham, C.; De Vito, G.; Tsolakidis, E. (eds.) 23rd Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS). Dublin, Ireland. 04.07.-07.07.2018.
INTRODUCTION:
Maintenance of physical effort, despite the development of fatigue, is key in many sport disciplines. Recently, it has been suggested that “giving up” in an endurance task may lie more at the cognitive than neuromuscular level. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that the regulation of demanding physical effort follows the same model that can be used to describe the regulation of demanding cognitive effort1.
METHODS:
In a within (time 1 vs. time 2) between (control group vs. intervention group) experimental design, 34 male participants had to perform an isometric knee extension above a target (15% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC)). The participants received monetary reward per unit of time until self-disengagement. At time 2, the experimental group received an upfront payment and a decreased income per unit of time. It has been shown that this procedure can induce a reduction in cognitive control compared to the procedure at time 11. Thus, we predicted to find a decreased time before self-disengagement in the intervention group at time 2. To control neuromuscular fatigue, we measured MVC, voluntary activation (VA) and the potentiated twitch at rest (Ptw) before and just after the termination of the fatigue task. We measured dorso-lateral pre frontal cortex activity (dlPFC) with NIRS as this area as this area has been frequently associated with cognitive control.
RESULTS:
We observed neither a group (p = 0.5) nor an interaction (p = 0.08) effect. However, a time effect was seen (p <0.001), which could be explained in a post-hoc analysis by a longer time before self-disengagement in the intervention group at time 2 (p = 0.002). Perception of effort over time and neuromuscular fatigue were identical between groups. However, the task was performed more efficiently by the intervention group at time 2 (reduced mean force during the task, interaction effect, p = 0.03). We also observed a different dlPFC activity during the task (interaction effect, p = 0.008).
CONCLUSION:
The model used to describe the regulation of a demanding cognitive effort1 may not correctly describe the regulation of a voluntary muscle contraction until self-disengagement. The increased task performance at time 2 could be explained by a higher task efficiency and not by an increase in resource depletion due to an altered cognitive control. These results have important implications in designing strategies to cope with fatigue during long lasting physical exertion tasks, e.g. in endurance sports.
Item Type: |
Conference or Workshop Item (Abstract) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Education > Educational Psychology |
UniBE Contributor: |
Wolff, Wanja |
Subjects: |
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 370 Education |
ISBN: |
978-3-9818414-1-1 |
Language: |
English |
Submitter: |
Wanja Wolff |
Date Deposited: |
04 May 2022 14:31 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 15:27 |
Additional Information: |
Book of Abstracts of the 23rd Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science – 4 th - 7th July 2018, Dublin – Ireland |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/127574 |
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