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Is reaction time altered by mental or physical exertion?

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Abstract

Purpose

Reaction time, classically divided into premotor time and electromechanical delay (EMD), can be determinant in daily life or sport situations. While some previous studies reported a negative impact of both muscle and mental fatigue on reaction time, the respective contributions of premotor time and EMD to the changes of reaction time remains unclear. The aim of the study was, therefore, to assess the effects of both muscle and mental effort on reaction time and its components.

Methods

Thirteen subjects performed three conditions (mental effort condition, i.e., 14 min of a mathematical cognitive task; muscle effort condition, i.e., intermittent contractions of the biceps brachii; control condition, i.e., watching a documentary). Before and after each condition, reaction time, premotor time and EMD were measured during voluntary contractions of the biceps brachii. EMD was also measured during evoked contractions of the biceps brachii to separate the parts due to the onset of muscle fascicle motion and the onset of force production.

Results

Reaction time and premotor time remained stable regardless of the condition considered (all P values > 0.05). EMD increased only after the muscle effort condition (+ 25% during voluntary contractions, no significant; + 17% during evoked contractions, P = 0.001), mainly due to an increase in the passive part of the series elastic component.

Conclusion

Our study showed that neither mental nor muscle effort has a negative effect on simple reaction time during voluntary contractions.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

EMDstim :

Electromechanical delay during electrical stimulation

EMDvol :

Electromechanical delay during voluntary contraction

MVC:

Maximal voluntary contraction

RFD:

Rate of force development

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Valentin Doguet for his valuable help and technical assistance.

Funding

The study was supported by Grants from the French Ministry of Sports (contract no. 15r16).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory Movement, Interactions, Performance (EA4334), Faculty of Sport Sciences, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France

    Yann Le Mansec, Sylvain Dorel, Antoine Nordez & Marc Jubeau

  2. Health and Rehabilitation Research Institute, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

    Antoine Nordez

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  1. Yann Le Mansec
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  2. Sylvain Dorel
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  3. Antoine Nordez
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  4. Marc Jubeau
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Contributions

YL, SD, AN and MJ conceived or designed research. YL, SD, AN and MJ participated in data acquisition, analyzed or interpreted the data. YL, SD, AN and MJ drafted and revised the work. YL, SD, AN and MJ approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marc Jubeau.

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Communicated by Nicolas Place.

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Le Mansec, Y., Dorel, S., Nordez, A. et al. Is reaction time altered by mental or physical exertion?. Eur J Appl Physiol 119, 1323–1335 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04124-7

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