Mental fatigue and impaired response processes: event-related brain potentials in a Go/NoGo task.
The effects of mental fatigue on the availability of cognitive resources and associated response-related processes were examined using event-related brain potentials. Subjects performed a Go/NoGo task for 60 min. Reaction time, number of errors, and mental fatigue scores all significantly increased with time spent on the task. The NoGo-P3 amplitude significantly decreased with time on task, but the Go-P3 amplitude was not modulated. The amplitude of error-related negativity (Ne/ERN) also decreased with time on task. These results indicate that mental fatigue attenuates resource allocation and error monitoring for NoGo stimuli. The Go- and NoGo-P3 latencies both increased with time on task, indicative of a delay in stimulus evaluation time due to mental fatigue. NoGo-N2 latency increased with time on task, but NoGo-N2 amplitude was not modulated. The amplitude of response-locked lateralized readiness potential (LRP) significantly decreased with time on task. Mental fatigue appears to slows down the time course of response inhibition, and impairs the intensity of response execution.
Kato
Yuichiro
Y
Institute for Human Science and Biomedical Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. kidkato@ni.aist.go.jp
Endo
Hiroshi
H
Kizuka
Tomohiro
T
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D005222:Mental Fatigue / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*