RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1133, Blindern, Oslo 0318, Norway; Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1094, Blindern, Oslo 0317, Norway.
RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1133, Blindern, Oslo 0318, Norway; Department of Musicology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1017, Blindern, Oslo 0315, Norway.
Hum Mov Sci. 2023 Aug;90:103113. doi: 10.1016/j.humov.2023.103113. Epub 2023 Jun 16.
The current motor literature suggests that extraneous cognitive load may affect performance and kinematics in a primary motor task. A common response to increased cognitive demand, as observed in past studies, might be to reduce movement complexity and revert to previously learned movement patterns, in line with the progression-regression hypothesis. However, according to several accounts of automaticity, motor experts should be able to cope with dual task demands without detriment to their performance and kinematics. To test this, we conducted an experiment asking elite and non-elite rowers to use a rowing ergometer under conditions of varying task load. We employed single-task conditions with low cognitive load (i.e., rowing only) and dual-task conditions with high cognitive load (i.e., rowing and solving arithmetic problems). The results of the cognitive load manipulations were mostly in line with our hypotheses. Overall, participants reduced movement complexity, for example by reverting towards tighter coupling of kinematic events, in their dual-task performance as compared to single-task performance. The between-group kinematic differences were less clear. In contradiction to our hypotheses, we found no significant interaction between skill level and cognitive load, suggesting that the rowers' kinematics were affected by cognitive load irrespective of skill level. Overall, our findings contradict several past findings and automaticity theories, and suggest that attentional resources are required for optimal sports performance.
目前的运动文献表明，外在认知负荷可能会影响主要运动任务的表现和运动学。根据过去研究中的观察，一种常见的应对认知需求增加的反应可能是降低运动复杂性，并回归到之前学习的运动模式，这符合进展-回归假说。然而，根据自动化的几种解释，运动专家应该能够应对双重任务需求，而不会对其表现和运动学产生不利影响。为了验证这一点，我们进行了一项实验，要求精英和非精英划船运动员在不同任务负荷条件下使用划船测功仪。我们采用了低认知负荷的单一任务条件（即仅划船）和高认知负荷的双重任务条件（即划船和解决算术问题）。认知负荷操纵的结果大多符合我们的假设。总的来说，与单一任务表现相比，参与者在双重任务表现中降低了运动复杂性，例如通过回归到运动事件更紧密的耦合。组间运动学差异不太明显。与我们的假设相反，我们没有发现技能水平和认知负荷之间存在显著的相互作用，这表明划桨者的运动学受到认知负荷的影响，而与技能水平无关。总的来说，我们的发现与过去的一些发现和自动化理论相矛盾，这表明注意力资源是最佳运动表现所必需的。
