Physical Exhaustion Induced Variations in Event-Related Potentials and Cognitive Task Performance in Young Adults

The neurological effects of acute physical exhaustion on inhibitory function

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the inhibitory function performance of maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) personnel in states of physical exhaustion.

BACKGROUND

SAR missions pose serious challenges to the cognitive function of SAR personnel, especially in extreme environments and physical exhaustion. It is important to understand SAR personnel's cognitive performance and neural activity under exhaustion to improve the efficiency of task execution and ensure work safety.

METHOD

Twenty-six maritime SAR personnel were recruited to simulate boat operations until they reached a self-imposed state of exhaustion. The exhaustion state was monitored by maximum heart rate and subjective fatigue scale. Two event-related potentials, N200 and P300, were measured during a Go-Nogo task before and after a session of acute exhaustive tasks.

RESULTS

After exhaustion, a marked reduction in accuracy, a notable increase in N200 amplitude, and a substantial decline in P300 amplitude under the Nogo condition were observed compared to the baseline phase. Pre- and post-exhaustion comparisons using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography revealed reduced activations in the right middle temporal gyrus's N200 component after exhaustion in SAR personnel during the Nogo condition.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that acute physical exhaustion significantly impacts the inhibition ability of SAR personnel, prolonging the conflict monitoring phase and weakening the response inhibition phase. These findings provide valuable insights into how physical exhaustion affects cognitive functions critical to the safety and effectiveness of SAR operations, and can inform strategies to improve training and equipment to enhance performance under extreme conditions.

Strategic Self-Talk Assists Basketball Free Throw Performance Under Conditions of Physical Exertion

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a strategic self-talk intervention on basketball free throw performance under conditions of physical exertion. Forty-one male basketball players (Mage = 23.19 years) participated in the study. Following a baseline assessment, a 3-week intervention was implemented. During this period participants of the two groups practiced the same number of free throws in their training sessions; participants of the experimental group practiced using self-talk and developed personal free throw self-talk plans. In the final assessment, the participants repeated the free throw test following a typical shuttle run task causing increased physical exertion. The results showed that in the final assessment the self-talk group performed significantly better than the control group. Overall, the findings indicate that self-talk can be an effective strategy for basketball players when performing free throw under conditions of physical exertion, which is a typical situation in basketball games.

Executive Functions During Submaximal Exercises in Male Athletes: Role of Blood Lactate

The present study was carried out among 20 healthy young male athletes to determine whether aerobic exercise performed at two different intensities is able to affect executive functions. For this purpose, we used the Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT) to evaluate the ability to inhibit cognitive interference and the Trail Making Test (TMT) to assess organized visual search, set shifting, and cognitive flexibility. Simple Reaction Time (RT), as a measure of perception and response execution, was also evaluated. The experimental protocol included the measure of blood lactate levels with the aim of assessing possible relations between lactate blood values and selected executive functions after a 30-min steady-state test performed at 60% and at 80% of VO2max. The results showed that a 30-min aerobic exercise is not associated with a worsening of executive functions as long as the blood lactate levels stay within the 4 mmol/l threshold.

Effects of a Bout of Intense Exercise on Some Executive Functions

The present study examined the effects of an exhaustive exercise on executive functions by using the Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT), Trail Making Test (TMT), A and B, and simple Reaction Time (RT). Thirty adults agreed to participate; 15 participants had a mean age of 24.7 years ± 3.2 Standard Deviation (SD, Standard Deviation) (group YOUNG), while the remaining 15 had a mean age of 58.9 years ± 2.6 SD (group OLD). Each subject performed the cognitive tasks at rest and blood lactate was measured (pre); each subject executed the acute exhaustive exercise and, immediately after the conclusion, executed the cognitive tasks and blood lactate was again measured (end). Cognitive tests were repeated and blood lactate measured 15 min after its conclusion of the exhaustive exercise (post). We observed: (1) a significant positive correlation between blood lactate levels and RT levels; (2) a significant negative relationship between levels of blood lactate and the SCWT mean score; (3) no significant correlation between blood lactate levels and TMT scores (time and errors), both A and B; (4) variations in blood lactate levels, due to exhaustive exercise, and parallel deterioration in the execution of RT and SCWT are significantly more pronounced in the group YOUNG than in the group OLD. The present study supports the possibility that high levels of blood lactate induced by an exhaustive exercise could adversely affect the executive functions pertaining to the prefrontal cortex.