![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Background: Cognitive enhancements are associated with persistent sport participation. The primary objective of this investigation was to assess mental fatigue during a prolonged simple reaction time task in athletes as compared to non-athletes.
Methods: Forty men (20 athletes and 20 non-athletes; Age = 23.81 ± 2.28 years) completed a prolonged reaction time (RT) task of 51 min duration. The task included three periods of 17 min each, with no breaks, each period consisted of 200 RT trials. The participants’ ratings of mental fatigue were assessed with a modified visual analogue mood scale (VAMS) before and after the fatigue-inducing mental task.
Results: Mental fatigue had a significant effect on both athletes and non-athletes (P ≤ .001). Athletes evidenced shorter RTs during the second and third periods of the prolonged reaction time task as compared with to non-athletes.
Conclusion: This study suggested that athletes exhibit greater resistance to mental fatigue than non-athletes. It is therefore suggested that habitual exercise may reduce the negative effect of mental fatigue on a prolonged cognitive task.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully thank all the subjects that participated in this study for the generous contribution of their time.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Saeed Jaydari Fard
Mr Saeed Jaydari Fard is a prospective PhD student. He has graduated with a Master's degree from University of Tehran. His research interest is in the brain, particularly fatigue.
Shahzad Tahmasebi Boroujeni
Associate professor Shahzad Tahmasebi Boroujeni works in faculty of physical education and sport sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Andrew P. Lavender
Dr Andrew P. Lavender works as a professor in Curtin University, Perth, Australia.