Examining the Independent and Interactive Carryover Effects of Cognitive and Physical Exertions on Physical Performance

TL;DR

This study found that combining mental and physical effort leads to similar physical performance drops as physical effort alone.

Contribution

The novel contribution is examining how combined mental and physical exertion affects physical performance compared to exertion alone.

Findings

Concurrent cognitive and physical exertion caused similar strength decreases as physical exertion alone.

Perceived mental and physical fatigue increased after experimental manipulations compared to control.

Endurance performance and EMG readings were unaffected across all conditions.

Abstract

This study compared the effects of prior cognitive, physical, and concurrent exertion on physical performance.

Fatiguing cognitive and physical exertions have been shown to negatively affect subsequent task performance. However, it is not clearly understood if concurrent physical and cognitive effort may exaggerate the negative carryover effects on physical task performance when compared to cognitive or physical exertion alone.

Twenty-five participants completed four isometric handgrip endurance trials on different days. The endurance trials were preceded by four, 15-minute experimental manipulations (cognitive, physical, concurrent, control). Electromyography (EMG) and force tracing performance were monitored, with handgrip strength measured pre and post. Subjective ratings of mental and physical fatigue, as well as affect, motivation, and task self-efficacy, were also assessed.

Handgrip strength decreased following both physical (−14.4% MVC) and concurrent (−12.3% MVC) exertion manipulations, with no changes being observed for the cognitive and control conditions. No differences were observed across conditions for endurance time, EMG, nor tracing performance. When compared to the control conditions, perceptions of mental and physical fatigue were higher following the experimental manipulation. Endurance trial self-efficacy was lower for the mental, physical and concurrent conditions compared to control.

The concurrent condition resulted in similar decreases in strength as the physical fatigue condition, but otherwise resulted in similar carryover effects on endurance performance across all conditions. Further study is required at higher exposure levels, or for longer exposure durations, to further probe the influence of concurrent physical and cognitive effort on task performance.

Concurrent cognitive and physical effort resulted in similar physical performance decrements to physical effort alone.

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