title: Prior Acute Mental Exertion in Exercise and Sport.
abstract: Mental exertion is a psychophysiological state caused by sustained and prolonged cognitive activity. The understanding of the possible effects of acute mental exertion on physical performance, and their physiological and psychological responses are of great importance for the performance of different occupations, such as military, construction workers, athletes (professional or recreational) or simply practicing regular exercise, since these occupations often combine physical and mental tasks while performing their activities. However, the effects of implementation of a cognitive task on responses to aerobic exercise and sports are poorly understood. Our narrative review aims to provide information on the current research related to the effects of prior acute mental fatigue on physical performance and their physiological and psychological responses associated with exercise and sports.
  
  
  
  The literature search was conducted using the databases PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge and PsycInfo using the following terms and their combinations: "mental exertion", "mental fatigue", "mental fatigue and performance", "mental exertion and sports" "mental exertion and exercise".
  
  
  
  We concluded that prior acute mental exertion affects effectively the physiological and psychophysiological responses during the cognitive task, and performance in exercise.
  
  
  
  Additional studies involving prior acute mental exertion, exercise/sports and physical performance still need to be carried out in order to analyze the physiological, psychophysiological and neurophysiological responses subsequently to acute mental exertion in order to identify cardiovascular factors, psychological, neuropsychological associates.
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), Parnaíba, Piauí, Brazil; Brain Mapping and Plasticity Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), Parnaiba, Piauí, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernando Lopes E
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Silva-Júnior
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), Parnaíba, Piauí, Brazil.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Emanuel
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), Parnaíba, Piauí, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), Parnaíba, Piauí, Brazil.
authors.forename: Matheus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), Parnaíba, Piauí, Brazil; Brain Mapping and Plasticity Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), Parnaiba, Piauí, Brazil.
authors.forename: Silmar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.affiliation: Exercise Psychophysiology Research Group, School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Flávio Oliveira
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Pires
authors.affiliation: Physical Activity Neuroscience, Physical Activity Sciences Post-Graduate Program, Salgado Oliveira University, Nitéroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ; Panic and Respiration Lab, Institute of Psichiatry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (IPUB/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sérgio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Trastornos del Movimiento y Estimulación Magnética, Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea Gonzalez, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Arias-Carrion
keywords: Cardiovascular; Cognitive exertion; Exercise; Neurophysiological; Performance; Psychological; Sport