The Effect of Mental Fatigue on the Cerebral Oxygenation During Endurance Exercise

NCT05355493 | Unknown DMC

• 1 other identifier: NIRS_EX
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 15
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The experiment will consist of 3 consecutive trials performed in a sound-insulated climate chamber (20°C and 40% RH) at the VUB. Participants will be asked to return 3 successive weeks. Trained staff (pre-doctoral researchers and trained master students) will be present during the experimental trials. The first visit will be a familiarization trial in which they will complete all procedures as if it was an experimental trial, except for the interventional 60min Stroop task. Instead of the 60-min Stroop task the participants' maximal cognitive capacity will be determined. The participant wil come in, perform a cognitive performance test, will then perform the intervention/control procedure, which will be followed by an additional conduction of the same cognitive performance test as before the intervention/control, as well as a physical performance test (time to exhaustion cycling test). The intervention will consist of a 60 min Stroop task, while the control trial will consist of watching a documentary of the same duration. Multiple different questionnaires (e.g. to assess the mentally fatigued state of participants) will be assessed throughout the experimental/control trial. The aim of this study will be to research if mental fatigue influences prefrontal cortex oxygenation during a time to exhaustion cycling test. Marcora et al. (2009) already showed a decrease in cycling performance during the exact same protocol.

Conditions

Mental Fatigue; Near Infrared Spectroscopy; NIRS; Condition; Cerebral Heamodynamics

Keywords

NIRS; Time to exhaustion; Prefrontal cortex; Cerebral oxygenation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Cerebral oxygenation

  Prefrontal cortex oxygenation = relative changes in oxy- and deoxy hemoglobin concentrations at the prefrontal cortex. During the whole frame, participants are equipped with a Near Infrared Spectroscopy device that measures cerebral oxygenation continuously at 10hz.

  2 hours

• Mental Fatigue

  Results of a visual analogue scale for mental fatigue (1 to 100) Higher score is more mentally fatigued

  60 minutes

• Time to exhaustion cycling

  Cycling at a power output corresponding to the subject's respiratory compensation point until exhaustion

  1hour

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Cognition

  7 minutes

Other Outcomes (3)

• Hemoglobin concentration

  10 minutes

• Blood glucose concentration

  10 minutes

• Blood Lactate concentration

  1 hour

Study Arms (2)

Mental Fatigue condition

EXPERIMENTAL

A Stroop task, of approximately 60 min, partitioned in 6 blocks of 336 stimuli, will be used as the mentally fatiguing task. In this task, four colored words ("rood", "blauw", "groen" and "geel") will be presented one at a time on a computer screen. The participants will be required to indicate the color of the word, ignoring the meaning of the word itself. If, however, the ink color is red, the button to be pressed will be the button linked to the real meaning of the word, not the ink color. The word presented and its ink color will be randomly selected by the computer (100% incongruent), with all incongruent word-color combinations being equally common (meaning, in each block 84 words will be presented in the color red, yellow, green and blue). Subjects will be instructed to respond as quickly and accurately as possible. To assess performance accuracy (ACC) and reaction time (RT) will be collected and averaged every block.

Behavioral: Time to Exhaustion cycling test; Behavioral: Go/NoGo task

Control condition

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

In the control task subjects will have to watch a documentary during 60 min on the same computer screen as that used for the experimental trial. In order to avoid under- and over-arousal the subjects will have the opportunity to choose between several episodes (One Planet, Frozen Worlds, Jungles, Costal Seas, From Desserts to Grasslands, The High Seas, Fresh Water and Forests) of the Netflix documentary "Our Planet, 2019" as proposed by the research team. During the control task physiological and psychological measures will be assessed at the same time points as during the mental fatigue trial.

Behavioral: Time to Exhaustion cycling test; Behavioral: Go/NoGo task

Interventions

Time to Exhaustion cycling test BEHAVIORAL

After completing the MF/control task. Participants will be asked to take place on the cycle ergometer. Participants will perform a 3-min warm-up at 40% of peak power output followed by a rectangular workload at a power output corresponding to their predetermined respiratory compensation point (±80% PPO). RPM was freely chosen between 60 and 100 RPM and was recorded every minute. TTE was measured from the start until the pedal frequency was less than 60 RPM for more than 5s. This TTE task was chosen, based on a previous study of Marcora et al. (2009), who found that mental fatigue impairs physical performance. A researcher will sit behind the subject to ensure compliance with treatment. Subjects will be equipped with a heart rate monitor to continuously follow up heart rate. Subjective psychological assessment will take place with a M-VAS-scale, the NASA-TLX, the success motivation and intrinsic motivation scales, Karolinska Sleepiness Scale and visual analog scale for boredom.

Control condition; Mental Fatigue condition

Go/NoGo task BEHAVIORAL

Participants are to react to different stimuli displayed on a computer screen, preceded by a screen with general instructions. Two different stimuli were present at the same time: a Go or NoGo stimulus, and a left or right stimulus (meaning that four combinations are possible: GoRight, GoLeft, NoGoRight and NoGoLeft). If a Go-stimulus is presented, participants are instructed to react to the left or right stimuli with the corresponding arrows. However, if a NoGo stimulus is presented, participants are instructed to refrain from reacting to the either the left or right stimuli. This proposed paradigm measures attention, response inhibition and working memory. Stimuli will be presented for 500 ms, with a varying interstimulus time between 1100 and 1700 ms. Outcomes for Go trials include reaction time and accuracy while the outcome for NoGo trials is only accuracy.

Control condition; Mental Fatigue condition

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 35 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Healthy (No neurological or cardiovascular disorders)
• Male or female
• No medication
• Non-smoker • Between 18 and 35 years old
• Recreational athlete population; performance level 2 or 3 for men according to De Pauw et al. (2013)(De Pauw et al., 2013) and performance level 2 or 3 for woman according to Decroix et al. (2015)(Decroix et al., 2015)
• Non-acclimatized to altitude (at least 2 months)

You may not qualify if:

• Injuries
• Acclimated to altitude
• Use of medication
• Use of caffeine and heavy efforts 24 hours prior each trial
• Not eating a standardized meal, the morning of each trial

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Vrije Universiteit Brussel: lead

Study Sites (1)

Human Physiology - MFYS

Brussels, Brussels Capital, 1050, Belgium

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Mental Fatigue; Disease

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Fatigue; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Pathologic Processes

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: DIAGNOSTIC
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 8, 2022
• First Posted: May 2, 2022
• Study Start: May 1, 2022
• Primary Completion: February 29, 2024
• Study Completion: February 29, 2024
• Last Updated: May 2, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-04

Locations

BE (1)