Decision making in elite white-water athletes paddling on a kayak ergometer.
The present study investigated the effects of acute paddling on performance in a typical decision-making task. It was aimed at assessing whether the effects of moderate exercise can be replicated using the feet as response effectors when physical exercise essentially solicits upper-body muscles. Twelve national-level paddling athletes performed a Simon task while paddling at a moderate (75% of maximal heart rate, HRmax) and at very light (40% of HR(max)) intensities. The results showed that the effects of moderate exercise can be generalized to exercises involving different response effectors and upper-body muscle groups. They suggest (1) that the activation-suppression hypothesis (Ridderinkhof, 2002) holds when the task is performed with the feet, and (2) that moderate exercise speeds up reaction time and impairs the suppression of direct response activation.
Davranche
Karen
K
Laboratoire de Neurobiologie de la Cognition, Université de Provence & CNRS, Marseille, France.
Paleresompoulle
Danny
D
Pernaud
Rémy
R
Labarelle
Julie
J
Hasbroucq
Thierry
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D016552:Ergometry / Q000379:methods*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013177:Sports / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult