Investigating the isolated effects of a soccer-specific mental fatigue manipulation on different task types

Introduction Mental fatigue negatively impacts athletic performance, but commonly employed tasks like the Stroop task often lack ecological validity. This study aimed to validate a modified, soccer-specific Footbonaut task as a mental fatigue manipulation and examine its effects on following tasks representing task-specific, near-, and far-transfer domains. Methods A randomized, counterbalanced within-subject design was implemented with n = 24 soccer players. Participants completed a Footbonaut task (task-specific), the LSPT (near-transfer), and the Stroop task (far-transfer) before and after mental fatigue manipulation via the Footbonaut. Results Inconsistencies emerged between interaction effects and post-hoc tests, showing no clear negative effect of the manipulation on accuracy or response times. The employed mental fatigue manipulation did not differentially affect the three tasks, indicating a lack of transfer effects. Discussion Although mental fatigue was not successfully induced by the sport-specific Footbonaut task, the findings emphasize the need for ecologically valid, innovative methods to better understand mental fatigue in sports.