Department of Physiology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
Behav Brain Funct. 2012 Sep 6;8:48. doi: 10.1186/1744-9081-8-48.
Fatigue can be classified as mental and physical depending on its cause, and each type of fatigue has a multi-factorial nature. We examined the effect of mental fatigue on the central nervous system using electroencephalography (EEG) in eighteen healthy male volunteers.
After enrollment, subjects were randomly assigned to two groups in a single-blinded, crossover fashion to perform two types of mental fatigue-inducing experiments. Each experiment consisted of four 30-min fatigue-inducing 0- or 2-back test sessions and two evaluation sessions performed just before and after the fatigue-inducing sessions. During the evaluation session, the participants were assessed using EEG. Eleven electrodes were attached to the head skin, from positions F3, Fz, F4, C3, Cz, C4, P3, Pz, P4, O1, and O2.
In the 2-back test, the beta power density on the Pz electrode and the alpha power densities on the P3 and O2 electrodes were decreased, and the theta power density on the Cz electrode was increased after the fatigue-inducing mental task sessions. In the 0-back test, no electrodes were altered after the fatigue-inducing sessions.
Different types of mental fatigue produced different kinds of alterations of the spontaneous EEG variables. Our findings provide new perspectives on the neural mechanisms underlying mental fatigue.
疲劳可根据其病因分为精神性和躯体性，每种类型的疲劳都具有多因素的性质。我们使用脑电图（EEG）检查了 18 名健康男性志愿者的精神性疲劳对中枢神经系统的影响。
入组后，采用单盲、交叉设计将受试者随机分为两组，进行两种类型的精神性疲劳诱发实验。每个实验包括四个 30 分钟的疲劳诱发 0 或 2 背测试阶段和两个评估阶段，在疲劳诱发阶段之前和之后进行。在评估阶段，使用 EEG 评估参与者。在头皮上贴有 11 个电极，从 F3、Fz、F4、C3、Cz、C4、P3、Pz、P4、O1 和 O2 位置。
在 2 背测试中，在疲劳诱发的精神任务阶段后，Pz 电极上的β功率密度、P3 和 O2 电极上的α功率密度降低，Cz 电极上的θ功率密度增加。在 0 背测试中，在疲劳诱发阶段后，没有电极发生变化。
不同类型的精神性疲劳会引起自发 EEG 变量的不同改变。我们的发现为精神性疲劳的神经机制提供了新的视角。
