ArticleFrontiers in human neuroscience2014
Does mental exertion alter maximal muscle activation?
Article in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mental Fatigue and Resistance Exercise: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Including GRADE Qualification.European journal of sport science · 2026Pooled it
- Approaches to inducing mental fatigue: A systematic review and meta-analysis of (neuro)physiologic indices.Behavior research methods · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The Effects of Mental Fatigue on Physical Performance: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2017Pooled it
- Concomitant dual-site tDCS and dark chocolate improve cognitive and endurance performance following cognitive effort under hypoxia: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Cognitive tasks elicit mental fatigue and impair subsequent physical task endurance: Effects of task duration and type.Psychophysiology · 2022Trial
- Effects of caffeine on neuromuscular fatigue and performance during high-intensity cycling exercise in moderate hypoxia.European journal of applied physiology · 2017Trial
- Effects of caffeine ingestion on endurance performance in mentally fatigued individuals.European journal of applied physiology · 2016Trial
- Mental fatigue does not affect maximal anaerobic exercise performance.European journal of applied physiology · 2015Trial
- Cognitive Fatigue Disrupts Explosive Performance and Vigilance in Trained Individuals.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Effect of Ammonia Inhalants on Mental-Fatigue-Related Force Loss.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Effects of Mental Fatigue on Trunk and Knee Kinetics and Kinematics During Unanticipated Stop-Jump in Amateur Soccer Players.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2025Article
- A Quantitative Investigation of Mental Fatigue Elicited during Motor Imagery Practice: Selective Effects on Maximal Force Performance and Imagery Ability.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- Mental Fatigue Effects on the Produced Perception of Effort and Its Impact on Subsequent Physical Performances.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- An Exploratory Comparison of Subjective Mental Fatigue Following a Task Designed to Replicate the Observation of Game Film.International journal of exercise science · 2022Article
- Quantitative EEG in sports: performance level estimation of professional female soccer players.Health information science and systems · 2021Article
- Impact of a Carbohydrate Mouth Rinse on Corticomotor Excitability after Mental Fatigue in Healthy College-Aged Subjects.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- Reversed Polarity bi-tDCS over M1 during a Five Days Motor Task Training Did Not Influence Motor Learning. A Triple-Blind Clinical Trial.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- Acute Effects of Caffeine Intake on Psychological Responses and High-Intensity Exercise Performance.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Is reaction time altered by mental or physical exertion?European journal of applied physiology · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mental exertion is known to impair endurance performance, but its effects on neuromuscular function remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that mental exertion reduces torque and muscle activation during intermittent maximal voluntary contractions of the knee extensors. Ten subjects performed in a randomized order three separate mental exertion conditions lasting 27 min each: (i) high mental exertion (incongruent Stroop task), (ii) moderate mental exertion (congruent Stroop task), (iii) low mental exertion (watching a movie). In each condition, mental exertion was combined with 10 intermittent maximal voluntary contractions of the knee extensor muscles (one maximal voluntary contraction every 3 min). Neuromuscular function was assessed using electrical nerve stimulation. Maximal voluntary torque, maximal muscle activation and other neuromuscular parameters were similar across mental exertion conditions and did not change over time. These findings suggest that mental exertion does not affect neuromuscular function during intermittent maximal voluntary contractions of the knee extensors.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.