Testing the role of cognitive inhibition in physical endurance using high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation over the prefrontal cortex

Abstract

Declarations of interest: none.Testing the role of cognitive inhibition in physical endurance using high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation over the prefrontal cortex Abstract:The aim of this study was to clarify the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in physical effort regulation. We hypothesized that the PFC would be progressively involved in physical endurance through the engagement of cognitive inhibition, which would be necessary to maintain effort by inhibiting fatigue-related cues. This hypothesis was examined using a double-blind, sham-controlled, within-subjects study (N = 20) using high-definition (HD) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC).Participants had to maintain a knee extensor contraction at 30% of their maximal force while simultaneously performing an Eriksen flanker task to evaluate their inhibition performance during the task. Anodal stimulation of the dlPFC influenced response to the cognitive task during exercise, as seen by slower response times and better accuracy. However, it did not lead to any measureable improvement in cognitive inhibition and did not influence endurance time. There was no correlation between cognitive inhibition and the maintenance of physical effort. This result could be explained by some methodological limitations of our protocol, and we also provide alternative explanations for the contribution of the PFC in physical endurance.

Using high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation to investigate the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in explicit sequence learning

“…This advanced method achieves increased focality compared to the traditional 2-pad stimulation technique by distributing current over multiple electrodes. Though some recent studies have taken advantage of HD-tDCS to evaluate cognitive performance [38–40], more work is needed to fully comprehend the capacity with which HD-tDCS impacts activity in the PFC with particular respect to explicit motor sequence learning. Indeed, the improved targeting that is possible with this approach stands to provide further insight into the role of the DLPFC in the cognitive components of sequence learning.…”