Mental fatigue impairs endurance performance in a time-to-exhaustion handgrip task: psychophysiological markers of effort engagement dynamics

Introduction: A growing body of literature showed that mental fatigue induced by an effortful task leads to an impairment in a subsequent physical performance. The principal aim of this experimental study was to reproduce the effect of mental fatigue on endurance performance while investigating the effort deployment in the fatiguing and control tasks that precede the physical task. Methods: = 16 in each group): a time-to-exhaustion handgrip task at 13% of maximal voluntary contraction, a 30-min mental task (Stroop task or documentary watching task) and the handgrip task again. Psychophysiological data were recorded on a continuous basis during the whole experiment. Results: 0.818). Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of assessing both performance and effort engagement to understand mental fatigue. Despite signs of effort disengagement during the Stroop task, mental fatigue still impaired the subsequent physical performance.