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Balance control is impaired by mental fatigue due to the fulfilment of a continuous cognitive task or by the watching of a documentary

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of mental fatigue (MF) induced by a 90-min continuous demanding cognitive task on balance control. Twenty healthy young participants were recruited. They had to perform three postural tasks (on a stable support with eyes open, with eyes closed and on a wobble board) while standing on a force platform before and after watching a documentary in a control condition or carrying out a prolonged continuous demanding cognitive task (AX-continuous performance test—AX-CPT) in a MF condition. Results showed that performing the AX-CPT generated MF since participants felt a higher subjective workload from the NASA Task Load Index after the AX-CPT than after viewing the documentary. Both the AX-CPT and the viewing of the documentary impaired balance control, mainly by affecting postural regulatory mechanisms which evolved towards a less automatic and less complex regulation mode with an increased participation of cognitive resources. MF generated by the AX-CPT affected balance control by compromising the attentional processing, while the deleterious influence of watching a documentary on postural control could stem from an adverse effect of prolonged sitting on balance control during subsequent standing.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the subjects for their cooperation.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour/E2S UPPA, Laboratoire Mouvement, Equilibre, Performance et Santé (EA 4445), ZA Bastillac Sud, 11 rue Morane Saulnier, 65000, Tarbes, France

    Betty Hachard, Frédéric Noé & Thierry Paillard

  2. Université de Lorraine, DevAH, 54000, Nancy, France

    Hadrien Ceyte

  3. Université de Toulouse, Laboratoire Génie de Production (LGP), INP-ENIT, Tarbes, France

    Baptiste Trajin

Authors
  1. Betty Hachard
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  2. Frédéric Noé
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  3. Hadrien Ceyte
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  4. Baptiste Trajin
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  5. Thierry Paillard
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Contributions

Conceptualization: BH, FN, HC; methodology: BH, FN, HC; data curation: BH; formal analysis: BH, BT; software: BT; writing-original draft preparation: BH; writing-review and editing: FN, TP, HC; supervision: FN, TP.

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Correspondence to Betty Hachard.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Communicated by Winston D. Byblow.

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Hachard, B., Noé, F., Ceyte, H. et al. Balance control is impaired by mental fatigue due to the fulfilment of a continuous cognitive task or by the watching of a documentary. Exp Brain Res 238, 861–868 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05758-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05758-2

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