Centre for Heart, Lung and Vascular Health, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC, Canada.
Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
Biol Psychol. 2021 Apr;161:108076. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108076. Epub 2021 Mar 11.
Mental fatigue is commonplace but there is limited understanding of the neural underpinnings of its development, the time course of its recovery, and its impact on motor function. Hence, this study used neural (electroencephalography) and motor measures to investigate the development and recovery of mental fatigue. Twenty participants performed a 60-min N-back task, with neural activity compared within the task. Additionally, pre-task neural and motor measures were compared to assessments beginning at 0, 30 and 60 min post-task. Alpha power increased during the task and was greater than baseline at 30 and 60 min post-task. Motor skills were impaired at ∼10-17 min post-task but recovered at ∼40-47 min. Using a unique combination of neural and motor measures, our results suggest that attentiveness and, possibly, selectiveness in inhibiting irrelevant information are impaired after an acute mentally-fatiguing task. Notably, recovery time differed for neural and motor measures.
精神疲劳很常见，但人们对其发展的神经基础、恢复的时间过程及其对运动功能的影响知之甚少。因此，本研究使用神经（脑电图）和运动测量来研究精神疲劳的发展和恢复。20 名参与者进行了 60 分钟的 N-back 任务，在任务内比较了神经活动。此外，将任务前的神经和运动测量值与任务开始后 0、30 和 60 分钟的评估进行了比较。在任务过程中，α 功率增加，在 30 和 60 分钟后高于基线。大约在任务后 10-17 分钟时运动技能受损，但在大约 40-47 分钟时恢复。使用神经和运动测量的独特组合，我们的结果表明，在急性精神疲劳任务后，注意力和（可能）抑制无关信息的选择性受到损害。值得注意的是，神经和运动测量的恢复时间不同。
