Abstract
We examined the influence of perceived cognitive fatigue on static balance control in healthy young adults to gain greater clarity about this issue than provided in previous research. Based on the prevailing assumption in pertinent literature, we hypothesized that the influence of cognitive fatigue on balance control depends on the attentional effort required by the balance tasks being performed. To test this hypothesis, 44 young adults (24 women and 20 men) were alternately assigned to either the experimental group that was cognitively fatigued (using the 16-min TloadDback-task with individualized settings) or the control group (who watched a documentary). Before and after the intervention, the participants performed six balance tasks that differed in (attentional) control requirements, while recording the center of pressure (COP). From these time series, sway variability, mean speed, and sample entropy were calculated and analyzed statistically. Additionally, perceived cognitive fatigue was assessed using VAS scales. Statistical analyses confirmed that the balance tasks differed in control characteristics and that cognitive fatigue was elevated in the experimental group, but not in the control group. Nevertheless, no significant main effects of cognitive fatigue were found on any of the COP measures of interest, except for some non-robust interaction effects related primarily to sample entropy. These results suggest that, in young adults, postural control in static balance tasks is largely automatic and unaffected by task-induced state fatigue.
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To allow reproducibility of our results and any further analyses all data and code can be found at: https://osf.io/jatc6/.
Notes
While these reviews, as well as most of the papers cited, often use the term ‘mental fatigue’, we have decided to adopt more contemporary terminology, following the framework proposed by Behrens et al. (2023). We will use the term ‘cognitive fatigue’ when addressing both the perceived and performance fatigue.
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This work was supported in part by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) under Grant P16-28 (Project 3).
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Weissinger, K., Bach, M.M., Brachman, A. et al. Perceived cognitive fatigue has only marginal effects on static balance control in healthy young adults. Exp Brain Res 242, 163–177 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-023-06736-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-023-06736-0