Abstract
Enduring physical strain is an important ability and prototypically required in athletic activities. However, little is known about the psychological determinants of endurance performance and their underlying neural mechanisms. Here, we investigated self-regulation as one such factor. We recruited 60 participants who hold intertwined rings for as long as possible while avoiding contacts between them, either with a goal intention or an implementation intention to perform well. Performance was measured in terms of time-to-failure and contact errors. Additionally, we repeatedly assessed ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and pain (RPP) and used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to continuously monitor cerebral oxygenation in dorsal and ventral parts of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), brain regions associated with effortful attentional control and response inhibition, respectively. Performance, RPE and RPP were similar in the goal and the implementation intention condition. LPFC activity increased over time, but its activation level was generally lower in the implementation intention condition. Both effects were particularly pronounced in the dorsal LPFC. Moreover, the balance between effortful and more automatic regulation seems to differ between self-regulation strategies. Our results indicate that self-regulation plays an important role in endurance performance and that self-regulatory processes during endurance performance might be reflected in LPFC activation.
Highlights
The ability to endure physical strain over extended periods of time is an important human capacity, required in diverse work settings and most prototypically during athletic activities
We found that oxygenation of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) increases over the course of a physically exhausting task, which might indicate a steady increase of self-control demands due to a steady increase in perceptions of effort and pain
Our findings are consistent with the idea that self-regulatory processes are involved in strenuous physical exercise and corroborate existing research showing that increasing self-regulatory demands are mirrored by an increase in LPFC activation
Summary
The ability to endure physical strain over extended periods of time is an important human capacity, required in diverse work settings (e.g., hospitals, factories) and most prototypically during athletic activities (e.g., running, cycling). Performance is not limited by physiological resource depletion; exhaustion and task termination should instead reflect a self-regulated decision to disengage[11] From this perspective, endurance performance can be understood as a task with incremental self-regulatory demands: As maintaining certain levels of performance becomes increasingly difficult (i.e., the perception of effort rises), the self-regulatory demands faced by the athlete rise as well (e.g., suppressing the impulse to quit). On the neural level, corresponding evidence comes from the finding that strenuous cardiovascular endurance performance is accompanied by increasing activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC; systematic review by[15]) This finding is usually discussed in the light of physiological changes induced by the task, the PFC plays a critical role for enabling people to effectively self-regulate their behavior (e.g.16,17). The existing evidence suggests that implementation intentions can regulate exercise-related sensations in endurance tasks but their effects on performance have so far been inconsistent[20]
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