The effects of fatigue on perceptual-cognitive performance among open-skill sport athletes: A scoping review

ABSTRACT

Perceptual-cognitive performance is fundamental for the anticipation and decision-making demands of open-skill sports but may be disrupted by fatigue. This scoping review aimed to describe what is known about the effects of fatigue on perceptual-cognitive performance among open-skill sport athletes. Six databases were systematically searched. Articles were included if they involved open-skill sport athletes, a perceptual-cognitive task assessed on two or more occasions, and induction of acute fatigue confirmed by a manipulation check. Sixty-seven studies, chapters, and reviews were included. In 51% of studies, fatigue was induced through physical exertion, with the rest by mental exertion (27%), or a combination of physical and mental exertion (22%). Only 35% of studies involved sport-specific exertion to induce fatigue, and 29% included measures of participants’ subjective ratings that confirmed the presence of fatigue. Forty-seven percent of perceptual-cognitive tasks were sport-specific, and just 19% assessed perceptual-cognitive performance simultaneous to the fatigue-inducing exertion. Negative, positive, and no effects of fatigue on perceptual-cognitive performance were reported, and these equivocal findings may be attributable to methodological discrepancies between studies. Future research should include more sport-specific designs, as well as stressors other than fatigue, such as environmental and psychosocial stressors.

KEYWORDS:

• Strategic
• interceptive
• decision making
• anticipation
• perceptual-cognitive skills

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Denis Arvisais and Elizabeth Samei Rad for their contributions during the article search and selection stages.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Institut national du sport du Québec.