Interactions between heart rate, psychomotor performance and perceived effort during physical work as influenced by beta-adrenergic blockade

Effects of a single intravenous dose of propranolol (0,25 mg/kg body weight) were examined in 15 healthy male subjects who performed three reaction-time tasks of different complexity, while pedalling at five work loads on a cycle ergometer. Comparisons between measurements after propranolol and afte...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological psychology 1979-02, Vol.8 (1), p.31-43
Main Authors: Sjöberg, Hans, Frankenhaeuser, Marianne, Bjurstedt, Hilding
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Epinephrine - urine
Heart Rate - drug effects
Humans
Male
Motor Skills - drug effects
Norepinephrine - urine
Physical Exertion - drug effects
Propranolol - pharmacology
Reaction Time - drug effects
Visual Perception - drug effects
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Effects of a single intravenous dose of propranolol (0,25 mg/kg body weight) were examined in 15 healthy male subjects who performed three reaction-time tasks of different complexity, while pedalling at five work loads on a cycle ergometer. Comparisons between measurements after propranolol and after injection of a placebo solution showed a pronounced reduction of heart rate and an increase in catecholamine excretion following propranolol. Comparisons of psychomotor performance showed no significant difference between the propranolol and placebo conditions. Nor did self-estimates of perceived physical and task-induced efforts reveal any significant effects of propranolol. The results support the notion that heart rate is not a prominent cue for perceived effort.
ISSN:0301-0511
1873-6246
DOI:10.1016/0301-0511(79)90003-6