Fatigue induces long-lasting detrimental changes in motor-skill learning

Abstract

Fatigue due to physical exertion is a ubiquitous phenomenon in everyday life and especially common in a range of neurological diseases. While the effect of fatigue on limiting skill execution are well known, its influence on learning new skills is unclear. This is of particular interest as it is common practice to train athletes, musicians or perform rehabilitation exercises up to and beyond a point of fatigue. In a series of experiments, we describe how muscle fatigue, defined as degradation of maximum force after exertion, impairs motor-skill learning beyond its effects on task execution. The negative effects on learning are evidenced by impaired task acquisition on subsequent practice days even in the absence of fatigue. Further, we found that this effect is in part mediated centrally and can be alleviated by altering motor cortex function. Thus, the common practice of training while, or beyond, fatigue levels should be carefully reconsidered, since this affects overall long-term skill learning.

Neural Correlates of Motor Skill Learning Are Dependent on Both Age and Task Difficulty

“…Lastly, we only measured perceived fatigue at the end of the first testing session. Since peak fatigue levels were presumably reached after the practice period and fatigue may impact motor learning (Branscheidt et al, 2019 ), further research assessing subjective fatigue at multiple time-points and relating these measures to the objective EEG data is needed to shed more light on the possible confounding effects of fatigue processes on motor learning.…”

Selecting and Executing Actions for Rewards

“…The finding of a reward-driven increase in stiffness has at least two major implications for the development of rehabilitation protocols. First, high stiffness may induce muscular fatigue, a process that might reduce the magnitude of rehabilitative learning (Branscheidt et al, 2019). Therefore, therapists should track patients' fatigue systematically when training involves reward.…”

Pushing up or pushing out—an initial investigation into horizontal- versus vertical-force training on swimming start performance: a pilot study

“…Specifically, extended intervention periods >6 months have been suggested for an optimal transfer of strength and power qualities to performance in well-trained endurance athletes ( Beattie et al, 2014 ). Incorporating greater amounts of deliberate practice of swim starts, especially at the beginning of each training session when the swimmer is mentally and physically fresh would appear to be beneficial for skill acquisition ( Branscheidt et al, 2019 ).…”