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Canaveral CA, Lata W, Green AM, Cisek P. Biomechanical costs influence decisions made during ongoing actions. J Neurophysiol 2024; 132:461-469. [PMID: 38988286 PMCID: PMC11427048 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00090.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2024] [Revised: 06/18/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Accurate interaction with the environment relies on the integration of external information about the spatial layout of potential actions and knowledge of their costs and benefits. Previous studies have shown that when given a choice between voluntary reaching movements, humans tend to prefer actions with lower biomechanical costs. However, these studies primarily focused on decisions made before the onset of movement ("decide-then-act" scenarios), and it is not known to what extent their conclusions generalize to many real-life situations, in which decisions occur during ongoing actions ("decide-while-acting"). For example, one recent study found that biomechanical costs did not influence decisions to switch from a continuous manual tracking movement to a point-to-point movement, suggesting that biomechanical costs may be disregarded in decide-while-acting scenarios. To better understand this surprising result, we designed an experiment in which participants were faced with the decision between continuing to track a target moving along a straight path or changing paths to track a new target that gradually moved along a direction that deviated from the initial one. We manipulated tracking direction, angular deviation rate, and side of deviation, allowing us to compare scenarios where biomechanical costs favored either continuing or changing the path. Crucially, here the choice was always between two continuous tracking actions. Our results show that in this situation decisions clearly took biomechanical costs into account. Thus we conclude that biomechanics are not disregarded during decide-while-acting scenarios but rather that cost comparisons can only be made between similar types of actions.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In this study, we aim to shed light on how biomechanical factors influence decisions made during ongoing actions. Previous work suggested that decisions made during actions disregard biomechanical costs, in contrast to decisions made before movement. Our results challenge that proposal and suggest instead that the effect of biomechanical factors is dependent on the types of actions being compared (e.g., continuous tracking vs. point-to-point reaching). These findings contribute to our understanding of the dynamic interplay between biomechanical considerations and action choices during ongoing interactions with the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - William Lata
- Department of NeuroscienceUniversity of MontréalMontréalQuébecCanada
| | - Andrea M Green
- Department of NeuroscienceUniversity of MontréalMontréalQuébecCanada
| | - Paul Cisek
- Department of NeuroscienceUniversity of MontréalMontréalQuébecCanada
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Goh HT, Stewart J, Becker K. Fatigue Is Associated With Perceived Effort and 2-Dimensional Reach Performance After Stroke. J Neurol Phys Ther 2024:01253086-990000000-00071. [PMID: 38934610 DOI: 10.1097/npt.0000000000000483] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/28/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Poststroke fatigue (PSF) is prevalent and often manifests as high perceived effort during activities. Little is known about how PSF influences goal-directed reaching after stroke. The purpose of this study was 2-fold (1) to evaluate how perceived effort changed when individuals with stroke performed a reaching task with various demands and (2) to determine whether PSF was associated with perceived effort during reaching and reach performance. METHODS Thirty-six individuals with chronic stroke performed 2-dimensional reach actions under varied conditions with the more and less affected arms. Perceived effort during reaching was assessed using rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and Paas Mental Effort Rating Scale (MERS). Derived reach kinematics were used to quantify reach performance. The Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) was administered to assess fatigue severity. RESULTS Perceived effort was higher when participants reached with the more affected arm, reached toward far and small targets, and performed memory-guided reaching. Both RPE and MERS significantly correlated with the FSS score (r = 0.50 and 0.35, respectively, P < 0.05). Further, FSS correlated with movement time during the more affected arm reaching (ρ = 0.40, p < 0.05) and reach performance discrepancy between the fast and self-selected speed conditions when participants performed with the less affected arm (ρ = 0.36, P < 0.05). Exploratory analysis revealed that the relationship between fatigue and reach control appeared to be modulated by task demand. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS PSF is associated with perceived effort during reaching and reach performance after stroke. These relationships might offer insights into arm performance in the real world after stroke. VIDEO ABSTRACT for more insights from the authors Supplemental Digital Content available at http://links.lww.com/JNPT/A476.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui-Ting Goh
- Author Affiliations: School of Physical Therapy, Texas Woman's University, Dallas, Texas (H.-T.G.); Physical Therapy Program, Department of Exercise Science. University of South Carolina, Columbus, South Carolina (J.S.); and Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Studies. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee (K.B.)
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Sukumar S, Shadmehr R, Ahmed AA. Effects of reward and effort history on decision making and movement vigor during foraging. J Neurophysiol 2024; 131:638-651. [PMID: 38056423 PMCID: PMC11305639 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00092.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
During foraging, animals explore a site and harvest reward and then abandon that site and travel to the next opportunity. One aspect of this behavior involves decision making, and the other involves movement control. These two aspects of behavior may be linked via an underlying desire to maximize a single normative utility: the sum of all rewards acquired, minus all efforts expended, divided by time. According to this theory, the history of rewards, and not just its immediate availability, should dictate how long one should stay and harvest reward and how vigorously one should travel to the next opportunity. We tested this theory in a series of experiments in which humans used their hand to harvest tokens at a reward patch and then used their arm to reach toward another patch. After a history of high rewards, the subjects not only shortened their harvest duration but also moved more vigorously toward the next reward opportunity. In contrast, after a history of high effort they lengthened their harvest duration but reduced their movement vigor, reaching more slowly to the next reward site. Thus, a history of high reward or low effort biased decisions by promoting early abandonment of the reward site and biased movements by promoting vigor.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Much of life is spent foraging. Whereas previous work has focused on the decision regarding time spent harvesting from a reward patch, here we test the idea that both decision making and movement control are tuned to optimize the net rate of reward in an environment. Our results show that movement patterns reflect not just immediate expectations but also past experiences in the environment, providing fundamental insight into the factors governing volitional control of arm movements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shruthi Sukumar
- Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States
| | - Reza Shadmehr
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
| | - Alaa A Ahmed
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States
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Brunfeldt AT, Bregman BS, Lum PS. Responsiveness to exoskeleton loading during bimanual reaching is associated with corticospinal tract integrity in stroke. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1348103. [PMID: 38500483 PMCID: PMC10944900 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1348103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Device-based rehabilitation of upper extremity impairment following stroke often employs one-sized-fits-all approaches that do not account for individual differences in patient characteristics. Objective Determine if corticospinal tract lesion load could explain individual differences in the responsiveness to exoskeleton loading of the arms in chronic stroke participants. Methods Fourteen stroke participants performed a bimanual shared cursor reaching task in virtual reality while exoskeletons decreased the effective weight of the more-impaired arm and increased the effective weight of the less-impaired arm. We calculated the change in relative displacement between the arms (RC) and the change in relative muscle activity (MC) between the arms from the biceps and deltoids. We calculated corticospinal tract lesion load (wCSTLL) in a subset of 10 participants. Results Exoskeleton loading did not change RC (p = 0.07) or MC (p = 0.47) at the group level, but significant individual differences emerged. Participants with little overlap between the lesion and corticospinal tract responded to loading by decreasing muscle activity in the more-impaired arm relative to the less-impaired arm. The change in deltoid MC was associated with smaller wCSTLL (R2 = 0.43, p = 0.039); there was no such relationship for biceps MC (R2 < 0.001, p = 0.98). Conclusion Here we provide evidence that corticospinal tract integrity is a critical feature that determines one's ability to respond to upper extremity exoskeleton loading. Our work contributes to the development of personalized device-based interventions that would allow clinicians and researchers to titrate constraint levels during bimanual activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander T. Brunfeldt
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States
- MedStar National Rehabilitation Network, Washington, DC, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Barbara S. Bregman
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States
- MedStar National Rehabilitation Network, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Peter S. Lum
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, United States
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Floegel M, Kasper J, Perrier P, Kell CA. How the conception of control influences our understanding of actions. Nat Rev Neurosci 2023; 24:313-329. [PMID: 36997716 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00691-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/01/2023]
Abstract
Wilful movement requires neural control. Commonly, neural computations are thought to generate motor commands that bring the musculoskeletal system - that is, the plant - from its current physical state into a desired physical state. The current state can be estimated from past motor commands and from sensory information. Modelling movement on the basis of this concept of plant control strives to explain behaviour by identifying the computational principles for control signals that can reproduce the observed features of movements. From an alternative perspective, movements emerge in a dynamically coupled agent-environment system from the pursuit of subjective perceptual goals. Modelling movement on the basis of this concept of perceptual control aims to identify the controlled percepts and their coupling rules that can give rise to the observed characteristics of behaviour. In this Perspective, we discuss a broad spectrum of approaches to modelling human motor control and their notions of control signals, internal models, handling of sensory feedback delays and learning. We focus on the influence that the plant control and the perceptual control perspective may have on decisions when modelling empirical data, which may in turn shape our understanding of actions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mareike Floegel
- Department of Neurology and Brain Imaging Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Johannes Kasper
- Department of Neurology and Brain Imaging Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Pascal Perrier
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, GIPSA-lab, Grenoble, France
| | - Christian A Kell
- Department of Neurology and Brain Imaging Center, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
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Teunissen L, Selen LPJ, Medendorp WP. Abrupt, but not gradual, motor adaptation biases saccadic target selection. J Neurophysiol 2023; 129:733-748. [PMID: 36812151 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00223.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Motor costs influence movement selection. These costs could change when movements are adapted in response to errors. When the motor system attributes the encountered errors to an external cause, appropriate movement selection requires an update of the movement goal, which prompts the selection of a different control policy. However, when errors are attributed to an internal cause, the initially selected control policy could remain unchanged, but the internal forward model of the body needs to be updated, resulting in an online correction of the movement. We hypothesized that external attribution of errors leads to the selection of a different control policy, and thus to a change in the expected cost of movements. This should also affect subsequent motor decisions. Conversely, internal attribution of errors may (initially) only evoke online corrections, and thus is expected to leave the motor decision process unchanged. We tested this hypothesis using a saccadic adaptation paradigm, designed to change the relative motor cost of two targets. Motor decisions were measured using a target selection task between the two saccadic targets before and after adaptation. Adaptation was induced by either abrupt or gradual perturbation schedules, which are thought to induce more external or internal attribution of errors, respectively. By taking individual variability into account, our results show that saccadic decisions shift toward the least costly target after adaptation, but only when the perturbation is abruptly, and not gradually, introduced. We suggest that credit assignment of errors not only influences motor adaptation but also subsequent motor decisions.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Decisions between potential motor actions are influenced by their costs, but costs change when movements are adapted. Using a saccadic target selection task, we show that target preference shifts after abrupt, but not after gradual adaptation. We suggest that this difference emerges because abrupt adaptation results in target remapping, and thus directly influences cost calculations, whereas gradual adaptation is mainly driven by corrections to a forward model that is not involved in cost calculations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lonneke Teunissen
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Luc P J Selen
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - W Pieter Medendorp
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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de la Garanderie MP, Courtay A, Féral-Basin C, Rainville P, Gaveau J, Pageaux B. Perception of effort and the allocation of physical resources: A generalization to upper-limb motor tasks. Front Psychol 2023; 13:974172. [PMID: 36760904 PMCID: PMC9904170 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.974172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Purpose The perception of effort (PE) is widely used to prescribe and monitor exercise during locomotor and resistance tasks. The present study examines the validity of PE to prescribe and monitor exercise during upper-limb motor tasks under various loads and speed requirements. Methods Forty participants volunteered in two experiments. In experiment 1, we used four PE intensities to prescribe exercise on a modified version of the box and block test (BBT) and a pointing task. We investigated the possibility of monitoring the exercise intensity by tracking changes in PE rating in response to three different tempos or additional weights. Experiment 2 replicated the possibility of prescribing the exercise with the PE intensity during the BBT and explored the impact of additional weights on performance and PE during the standardized version of the BBT. Muscle activation, heart rate, and respiratory frequencies were recorded. Results In experiment 1, increasing the PE intensity to prescribe exercise induced an increased performance between each intensity. Increasing task difficulty with faster movement tempo and adding weight on the forearm increased the rating of PE. Experiment 2 replicated the possibility to use PE intensity for exercise prescription during the BBT. When completing the BBT with an additional weight on the forearm, participants maintained performance at the cost of a higher PE. In both experiments, changes in PE were associated with changes in muscle activation. Conclusion Our results suggest that PE is a valid tool to prescribe and monitor exercise during upper-limb motor tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie Payen de la Garanderie
- École de Kinésiologie et des Sciences de l’Activité Physique (EKSAP), Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Aymeric Courtay
- École de Kinésiologie et des Sciences de l’Activité Physique (EKSAP), Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montreal, QC, Canada
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, Dijon, France
| | - Camille Féral-Basin
- École de Kinésiologie et des Sciences de l’Activité Physique (EKSAP), Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Pierre Rainville
- Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montreal, QC, Canada
- Département de Stomatologie, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Jérémie Gaveau
- INSERM UMR1093-CAPS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences du Sport, Dijon, France
- Espace d’Etude du Mouvement—Etienne Jules MAREY, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comte, UFR des Sciences du Sport, Dijon, France
| | - Benjamin Pageaux
- École de Kinésiologie et des Sciences de l’Activité Physique (EKSAP), Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montreal, QC, Canada
- Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur le Cerveau et l’Apprentissage (CIRCA), Montreal, QC, Canada
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Zhang M, Palmer CV, Pratt SR, McNeil MR, Siegle GJ. Need for cognition is associated with the interaction of reward and task-load on effort: A verification and extension study. Int J Psychophysiol 2022; 180:60-67. [PMID: 35931237 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2022] [Revised: 07/27/2022] [Accepted: 07/28/2022] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
Abstract
Here, we work to provide nuance around the assumption that people will work for rewards. We examine whether individuals' inherent tendency to mobilize cognitive effort (need for cognition, NFC) moderates this effect. We re-analyzed our existing data to verify an effect reported by Sandra and Otto (2018) regarding the association between NFC and reward-induced cognitive effort expenditure, using a more ecological cognitive task design and adding a psychophysiological measure of effort. Specifically, distinct from their short time course visual task-switching paradigm, we used a relatively long course auditory comprehension task paradigm. We found that, consistent with the original study, increased cognitive effort in response to incentive reward depends on individual differences in cognitive motivation (need for cognition). We also found that, to observe consistent phenomena, different indices of effort (behavioral and psychophysiological) need to be considered when evaluating the relationship between the effort expenditure and cognitive motivation. Pupil dilation showed an advantage over reaction time in revealing mental effort mobilized over a prolonged cognitive task. Our results suggest that assessing cognitive motivation when planning a behavior-change program involving reward feedback for positive performance could help to optimize individuals' effort investment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Zhang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Clinical Geriatric Medicine, Huadong Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
| | - Catherine V Palmer
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA, USA
| | - Sheila R Pratt
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, PA, USA
| | - Malcolm R McNeil
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, PA, USA
| | - Greg J Siegle
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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Kim S, Han CE, Kim B, Winstein CJ, Schweighofer N. Effort, success, and side of lesion determine arm choice in individuals with chronic stroke. J Neurophysiol 2022; 127:255-266. [PMID: 34879206 PMCID: PMC8782657 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00532.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
In neurotypical individuals, arm choice in reaching movements depends on expected biomechanical effort, expected success, and a handedness bias. Following a stroke, does arm choice change to account for the decreased motor performance, or does it follow a preinjury habitual preference pattern? Participants with mild-to-moderate chronic stroke who were right-handed before stroke performed reaching movements in both spontaneous and forced-choice blocks, under no-time, medium-time, and fast-time constraint conditions designed to modulate reaching success. Mixed-effects logistic regression models of arm choice revealed that expected effort predicted choices. However, expected success only strongly predicted choice in left-hemiparetic individuals. In addition, reaction times decreased in left-hemiparetic individuals between the no-time and the fast-time constraint conditions but showed no changes in right-hemiparetic individuals. Finally, arm choice in the no-time constraint condition correlated with a clinical measure of spontaneous arm use for right-, but not for left-hemiparetic individuals. Our results are consistent with the view that right-hemiparetic individuals show a habitual pattern of arm choice for reaching movements relatively independent of failures. In contrast, left-hemiparetic individuals appear to choose their paretic left arm more optimally: that is, if a movement with the paretic arm is predicted to be not successful in the upcoming movement, the nonparetic right arm is chosen instead.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Although we are seldom aware of it, we constantly make decisions to use one arm or the other in daily activities. Here, we studied whether these decisions change following stroke. Our results show that effort, success, and side of lesion determine arm choice in a reaching task: whereas left-paretic individuals modified their arm choice in response to failures in reaching the target, right-paretic individuals showed a pattern of choice independent of failures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sujin Kim
- 1Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California,2Department of Physical Therapy, Jeonju University, Jeonju, Republic of Korea
| | - Cheol E. Han
- 3Department of Electronics and Information Engineering, Korea University, Sejong, Republic of Korea
| | - Bokkyu Kim
- 1Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California,4Department of Physical Therapy Education, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York
| | - Carolee J. Winstein
- 1Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Nicolas Schweighofer
- 1Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
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van As S, Beckers DGJ, Geurts SAE, Kompier MAJ, Husain M, Veling H. The Impact of Cognitive and Physical Effort Exertion on Physical Effort Decisions: A Pilot Experiment. Front Psychol 2021; 12:645037. [PMID: 34795608 PMCID: PMC8593226 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.645037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2020] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Research suggests that cognitive fatigue has a negative impact on physical activity participation. However, the mechanisms underlying this effect are yet unclear. Using an effort-based decision-making paradigm, we examined whether individuals weigh physical effort-costs more strongly when they are cognitively or physically fatigued. Twenty university students visited the lab on three occasions. On each visit, participants underwent a manipulation that was designed to either induce cognitive fatigue (i.e., 2-back task), physical fatigue (i.e., handgrip exercise), or served as a control condition (i.e., documentary watching). After the manipulations, participants performed an effort-based decision-making task in which they decided for 125 offers whether they accepted the offer to exert the required level of physical effort to obtain rewards that varied in value. The probability to accept offers declined with increasing effort requirements whereas the general probability to accept offers was not reduced by any of the experimental conditions. As expected, the decline in accepted offers with increasing effort requirements was stronger after prolonged exertion of physical effort compared to the control condition. Unexpectedly, this effect was not found after exerting cognitive effort, and exploratory analyses revealed that the impact of physical effort exertion on physical effort-based decisions was stronger than that of cognitive effort exertion. These findings suggest that people weight future physical effort-costs more strongly after exerting physical effort, whereas we could not find any evidence for this after exerting cognitive effort. We discuss multiple explanations for this discrepancy, and outline possibilities for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sven van As
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Debby G J Beckers
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Sabine A E Geurts
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | | | - Masud Husain
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Harm Veling
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
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Byrne A, Hewitt D, Henderson J, Newton-Fenner A, Roberts H, Tyson-Carr J, Fallon N, Giesbrecht T, Stancak A. Investigating the effect of losses and gains on effortful engagement during an incentivized Go/NoGo task through anticipatory cortical oscillatory changes. Psychophysiology 2021; 59:e13897. [PMID: 34251684 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2021] [Revised: 05/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Losses usually have greater subjective value (SV) than gains of equal nominal value but often cause a relative deterioration in effortful performance. Since losses and gains induce differing approach/avoidance behavioral tendencies, we explored whether incentive type interacted with approach/avoidance motor-sets. Alpha- and beta-band event-related desynchronization (ERD) was hypothesized to be weakest when participants expected a loss and prepared an inhibitory motor-set, and strongest when participants expected a gain and prepared an active motor-set. It was also hypothesized that effort would modulate reward and motor-set-related cortical activation patterns. Participants completed a cued Go/NoGo task while expecting a reward (+10p), avoiding a loss (-10p), or receiving no incentive (0p); and while expecting a NoGo cue with a probability of either .75 or .25. Pre-movement alpha- and beta-band EEG power was analyzed using the ERD method, and the SV of effort was evaluated using a cognitive effort discounting task. Gains incentivized faster RTs and stronger preparatory alpha band ERD compared to loss and no incentive conditions, while inhibitory motor-sets resulted in significantly weaker alpha-band ERD. However, there was no interaction between incentive and motor-sets. Participants were more willing to expend effort in losses compared to gain trials, although the SV of effort was not associated with ERD patterns or RTs. Results suggest that incentive and approach/avoidance motor tendencies modulate cortical activations prior to a speeded RT movement independently, and are not associated with the economic value of effort. The present results favor attentional explanations of the effect of incentive modality on effort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Byrne
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.,Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Danielle Hewitt
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Jessica Henderson
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Alice Newton-Fenner
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.,Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Hannah Roberts
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - John Tyson-Carr
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Nick Fallon
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | | | - Andrej Stancak
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.,Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
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