Abstract
ObjectivesTo test the hypothesis that cognitive load (low vs. high load) during a 20 min self-paced cycling exercise affects physical performance.DesignA pre-registered (https://osf.io/qept5/), randomized, within-subject design experiment.Methods28 trained and experienced male cyclists completed a 20 min self-paced cycling time-trial exercise in two separate sessions, corresponding to two working memory load conditions: 1-back or 2-back. We measured power output, heart rate, RPE and mental fatigue.ResultsBayes analyses revealed extreme evidence for the 2-back task being more demanding than the 1-back task, both in terms of accuracy (BF10 = 4490) and reaction time (BF = 1316). The data only showed anecdotal evidence for the alternative hypothesis for the power output (BF10 = 1.52), moderate evidence for the null hypothesis for the heart rate (BF10 = 0.172), anecdotal evidence for RPE (BF10 = 0.72) and anecdotal evidence for mental fatigue (BF10 = 0.588).ConclusionsOur data seem to challenge the idea that self-paced exercise is regulated by top-down processing, given that we did not show clear evidence of exercise impairment (at the physical, physiological and subjective levels) in the high cognitive load condition task with respect to the low working memory load condition. The involvement of top-down processing in self-pacing the physical effort, however, cannot be totally discarded. Factors like the duration of the physical and cognitive tasks, the potential influence of dual-tasking, and the participants’ level of expertise, should be taken into account in future attempts to investigate the role of top-down processing in self-paced exercise.
Highlights
Self-paced exercise is a goal-directed behavior that has been related to both bottom-up [1,2] and top-down processing [3]
Our data seem to challenge the idea that self-paced exercise is regulated by top-down processing, given that we did not show clear evidence of exercise impairment in the high cognitive load condition task with respect to the low working memory load condition
Factors like the duration of the physical and cognitive tasks, the potential influence of dual-tasking, and the participants’ level of expertise, should be taken into account in future attempts to investigate the role of top-down processing in self-paced exercise
Summary
Self-paced exercise is a goal-directed behavior that has been related to both bottom-up [1,2] and top-down processing [3]. Self-paced exercise might be seen as an effortful cognitive task involving body motion that places high demands on the brain and request top-down processing [5], for it involves goal monitoring, cognitive control etc. During a cycling time-trial, cyclists have to make continuous decisions to adapt the pace according to the demands of the event [6], to focus their attention toward relevant stimuli [7] and to inhibit the urge of slowing down [8]. The few neuroimaging studies testing participants while exercising have shown activation of the prefrontal cortex, together with the expected sensorio-motor recruitment [9,10], which reinforces the hypothesis of the crucial role of topdown processing on self-paced exercise
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