The neural effects of positively and negatively re-experiencing mental fatigue sensation: a magnetoencephalography study

• Published in: Experimental brain research 2018-06, Vol.236 (6), p.1735-1747
• Main Authors: Ishii, Akira, Ishizuka, Takuya, Muta, Yuki, Tanaka, Masaaki, Yamano, Emi, Watanabe, Yasuyoshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Attention; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brain research; Brain Waves - physiology; Brodmann's area; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Delta Rhythm - physiology; Efficiency; Electrocardiography; Emotions - physiology; Fatigue; Homeostasis; Humans; Magnetoencephalography; Magnetoencephalography - methods; Male; Memory, Short-Term - physiology; Mental Fatigue - physiopathology; Methods; Motivation; Motivation - physiology; Neurology; Neurosciences; Parietal Lobe - physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Physiological aspects; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Research Article; Visual perception; Well being; Workloads; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0014-4819; 1432-1106
• DOI: 10.1007/s00221-018-5260-0

Fatigue sensation is an essential biological alarm that urges us to take rest to avoid disrupting homeostasis and thus plays an important role in maintaining well-being. However, there are situations in which the anticipation of unpleasant fatigue sensation undesirably reduces motivation for activity. The aim of this study was to examine whether thinking positively about the fatigue sensation would increase motivation to accomplish the workload. Fourteen healthy male volunteers participated in this study and performed a two-back test for 30 min to induce mental fatigue sensation. After their subjective level of fatigue had recovered to the baseline level, they re-experienced the fatigue sensation experienced in the two-back test positively, negatively, and without any modification (i.e., re-experienced the fatigue sensation as it was). The level of motivation to perform another two-back test they felt during the re-experiencing was assessed. The neural activity related to the re-experiencing was recorded using magnetoencephalography. The level of the motivation to perform another two-back test was increased by positively re-experiencing the fatigue sensation. The increase in delta band power in Brodmann area 7 was positively associated with the increase in motivation. These results show that positive thinking about fatigue sensation can enhance motivation and suggest that this enhanced motivation may have some effects on visual attention system.