Clinical trial NCT05466136: Mindfulness, Mental Fatigue, Inhibitory Control and Endurance Performance in Athletes
Official title: Effects of Mental Fatigue on Inhibitory Control and Endurance Performance in Athletes With Different Levels of Dispositional Mindfulness: An Event-Related Potential Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Mental Fatigue
Keywords: Mindfulness
Athletes
Mental fatigue
Inhibitory control
Endurance performance
Lead sponsor: National Taiwan Normal University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2022-07-20
Enrollment: 90
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 25
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Intervention model description: The participants will visit the lab on two counterbalanced order occasions to complete either an incongruent version Stroop task (mental fatigue condition, MF) or a congruent version Stroop task (control condition, CON) for 30 minutes to induce the mental fatigue state.
Primary purpose: SCREENING

Brief summary: This study investigated the mediating effect of dispositional mindfulness on the impact of mental fatigue on neurocognitive functions and endurance performance in athletes.

Detailed description: Recent research suggests that mental fatigue by prolonged cognitive tasks would impair neurocognitive functions (e.g., executive functions, brain activity) and sports performance, especially inhibitory control and endurance performance. On the other hand, individuals with higher dispositional mindfulness have been linked to greater athletic performance and cognitive functions. Still, there is little known whether higher dispositional mindfulness counteracts the detrimental effects of mental fatigue on endurance performance and inhibitory control in athletes. Therefore, this study is conducted to investigate whether dispositional mindfulness mediates the effects of mental fatigue on neurocognitive functions and endurance performance in athletes.

The qualified participants will visit the lab on two counterbalanced order occasions to complete either a modified incongruent Stroop task (mental fatigue condition, MF) or a modified congruent Stroop task (control condition, CON) for 30 minutes. Before and after each cognitive task, participants will be measured for their subjective mental fatigue by a visual analog scale (VAS). After each cognitive task, inhibitory control and endurance performance will be evaluated by a Flanker task and a graded exercise test (GXT), respectively. Furthermore, the general and athletic dispositional mindfulness will be measured using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and Athlete Mindfulness Questionnaire (AMQ), respectively.

Specifically, the targeted primary outcomes are neurocognitive functions (i.e., reaction time, accuracy and ERPs in Flanker task) and endurance performance (i.e., VO2max \& time to exhaustion in GXT); The secondary outcomes are subjective (i.e., VAS score)/objective (i.e., reaction time, accuracy in Stroop task) mental fatigue, motivation in tasks, mood (i.e., BRUMS-C).

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Regular sports training at least 4 hours weekly
2. Normal or corrected-to-normal vision
3. Right-handed

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Physical limitation or injury in lower limbs before and during the study
2. Diagnosed or self-reported neurological disorders (e.g., epilepsy)
3. Diagnosed or self-reported major psychiatric illness (e.g., major depression, schizophrenia)

Primary outcomes:
measure: Inhibitory control: Reaction time
timeFrame: about 1 year
measure: Inhibitory control: Accuracy
timeFrame: about 1 year
measure: Endurance performance: Time to exhaustion
timeFrame: about 1 year
measure: Endurance performance: Maximum Oxygen Consumption
timeFrame: about 1 year
measure: Changes in neuroelectrical activities
timeFrame: about 1 year
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Subjective mental fatigue
timeFrame: about 1 year
measure: Objective mental fatigue: Reaction time in Stroop task
timeFrame: about 1 year
measure: Objective mental fatigue: Accuracy in Stroop task
timeFrame: about 1 year
measure: Rating of perceived exertion
timeFrame: about 1 year
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Taipei
country: Taiwan
facility: Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University
Study officials:
affiliation: Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University
name: Yu-Kai Chang, Ph.D
role: STUDY_DIRECTOR
References: