Effects of mentally induced fatigue on balance control: a systematic review

Pitts, Jessica; Bhatt, Tanvi

doi:10.1007/s00221-022-06464-x

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 105 publications

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“…However, as it stands, and this is the third noteworthy observation, the evidence for a robust influence of MF on posture is inconclusive, as is apparent from the upshot of both systematic reviews. Whereas Brahms, et al (2022) concluded unequivocally that MF can adversely affect balance in healthy young adults, Pitts and Bhatt (2023) came to a more nuanced conclusion as some studies only showed modest, partial or even null effects (Varas-Diaz, Kannan, & Bhatt, 2020). Differences in research findings might have been due to various methodological factors, including the method(s) used to induce MF, the type of balance control investigated (e.g., volitional versus reactive), the experimental task used, the balance measures employed, the study population (e.g., healthy young adults, healthy old adults, individuals with stroke) and the number of participants (and thus statistical power).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Last year, two systematic reviews were published that examined the influence of MF on balance in healthy individuals (Brahms, et al, 2022;Pitts & Bhatt, 2023), with partially overlapping citations but no reference to each other. Three important observations can be gleaned from those reviews.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…and O'Keeffe, et al (2019) showed that performing the TloadDback task for 16 minutes is sufficient to mentally fatigue participants to a sufficiently high degree,Jacquet, Poulin-Charronnat, Bard, and Lepers (2020) argued that the standardized duration of the TloadDback task of 16 minutes is too short to affect physical performance. According to them, performing a mentally fatiguing task for such a short duration intervenes primarily with people's perception of fatigue, rather than inducing sufficient MF to reduce their motor abilities Pitts and Bhatt (2023). raised a similar concern.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Mental fatigue has only marginal effects on static balance control in healthy young adults

Weissinger,

Bach,

Brachmann

et al. 2023

Preprint

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We examined the influence of mental fatigue on static balance control in healthy young adults to gain greater clarity about this issue than provided in previous research. Based on the prevailing assumption in pertinent literature, we hypothesized that mental fatigue leads to a reduced cognitive regulation of quiet upright standing, as reflected in center of pressure (COP) excursions. More specifically, we hypothesized that the influence of mental fatigue on balance control depends on the attentional effort required by the balance tasks being performed. To test these hypotheses, 44 young adults (24 women and 20 men) were quasi-randomly assigned to either an experimental group that was mentally fatigued (using the TloadDback-task with individualized settings) or a control group (who watched a documentary). Before and after the intervention the participants performed six balance tasks that differed in (attentional) control requirements, while their COP was being recorded. From these time-series sway variability, mean speed, and sample entropy were calculated and analyzed statistically. Additionally, mental fatigue was assessed using VAS scales. Statistical analyses confirmed that the balance tasks differed in control characteristics and that mental fatigue was elevated in the experimental group, but not in the control group. Nevertheless, no significant main effects of mental fatigue were found on any of the COP measures of interest, except for some non-robust and difficult to interpret interaction effects involving the factor group. These results suggest that, in young adults, postural control in static balance tasks is largely automatic and unaffected by mental fatigue.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mental fatigue has only marginal effects on static balance control in healthy young adults

Weissinger,

Bach,

Brachmann

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Consequently, the methods used to induce mental fatigue are highly varied (Pitts & Bhatt, 2023;Sun et al, 2021;Tran et al, 2020;Van Cutsem et al, 2017). Some researchers use simple tasks such as the Stroop color-word test, where participants must exercise inhibition to overcome semantic interference (Pageaux et al, 2015;Smith et al, 2016;Thompson et al, 2020) or variations of an n-back task, which require participants to remember differing lengths of sequences of items (numbers, letters, or images) whilst monitoring incoming stimuli (Clark et al, 2019;Shortz et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel protocol to induce mental fatigue

2023

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Mental fatigue is a commonplace human experience which is the focus of a growing body of research. Whilst researchers in numerous disciplines have attempted to uncover the origins, nature, and effects of mental fatigue, the literature is marked by many contradictory findings. We identified two major methodological problems for mental fatigue research. First, researchers rarely use objective measures of mental fatigue. Instead, they rely heavily on subjective reports as evidence that mental fatigue has been induced in participants. We aimed to develop a task which led to not only a subjective increase in mental fatigue, but a corresponding performance decrement in the mentally fatiguing task as an objective measure. Secondly, current mental fatigue paradigms have low ecological validity – in most prior studies participants have been fatigued with a single repetitive task such as the n-back or Stroop. To move towards a more ecologically valid paradigm, our participants undertook a battery of diverse cognitive tasks designed to challenge different aspects of executive function. The AX-CPT, n-back, mental rotation, and visual search tasks were chosen to challenge response inhibition, working memory, spatial reasoning, and attention. We report results from 45 participants aged 19 to 63 years who completed a two-hour battery comprising four different cognitive tasks. Subjective fatigue ratings and task performance were measured at the beginning and end of the battery. Our novel method resulted in an increase in subjective ratings of fatigue (p < 0.001) and a reduction in task performance (p = 0.008). Future research into mental fatigue may benefit from using this task battery.

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