Development and recovery time of mental fatigue and its impact on motor function


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Authors: Magnuson, JR; Doesburg, SM; McNeil, CJ
Year: 2021
Journal: Biol. Psychol. 161   Article Link (DOI)  PubMed
Title: Development and recovery time of mental fatigue and its impact on motor function
Abstract: Mental fatigue is commonplace but there is limited understanding of the neural underpinnings of its development, the time course of its recovery, and its impact on motor function. Hence, this study used neural (electroencephalography) and motor measures to investigate the development and recovery of mental fatigue. Twenty participants performed a 60-min N-back task, with neural activity compared within the task. Additionally, pretask neural and motor measures were compared to assessments beginning at 0, 30 and 60 min post-task. Alpha power increased during the task and was greater than baseline at 30 and 60 min post-task. Motor skills were impaired at similar to 10-17 min post-task but recovered at similar to 40-47 min. Using a unique combination of neural and motor measures, our results suggest that attentiveness and, possibly, selectiveness in inhibiting irrelevant information are impaired after an acute mentally-fatiguing task. Notably, recovery time differed for neural and motor measures.
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