Psych revision - Week 10 Mental Fatigue and Performance

Question 1

What is the Central Governor Model of fatigue?

Answer 1

The brain is the body’s control room/safety mechanism

The central governor limits exercise by reducing neural recruitment of muscle fibers. This reduced recruitment causes the sensation of fatigue

Question 2

What is the Psychobiological Model of fatigue?

Answer 2

Fatigue is a response to a high perception of effort and therefore exhaustion is due to ‘task disengagement’ not ‘task failure’

Muscle fatigue –> Perceived Exertion –> Task Disengagement

*Perceived effort can be ‘modified’ in order to exert more effort

Question 3

What can mental fatigue do to RPE?

Answer 3

Mental fatigue can add to RPE.

In a study by Marcora et al., 2019, ,mental fatigue increased ratings of perceived exertion and reduced time to exhaustion/failure

Question 4

What happens to serotonin levels in the brain during prolonged exercise?

Answer 4

It increases. This is known as the Serotonin Hypothesis.

This leads to lethargy and loss of drive and also causes reduced motor unit recruitment

Question 5

What is the Psychological Motivation Model of fatigue and performance?

Answer 5

The psychological motivation model does not include a central governor, but instead states that your conscious brain has voluntary control over fatigue and performance