Choice Reaction Time During Graded Exercise in Relation to Blood Lactate and Plasma Catecholamine Thresholds

Abstract

Twenty-two male soccer players (mean age 21.3 yrs) performed an incremental, multistage bicycle ergometer exercise test with work load increasing by 50 W, until volitional exhaustion. The exercise stages lasted 3 min and were separated by 1 min resting periods. Before exercise and during each load an audio-visual five-choice reaction task was administered to assess subjects' psychomotor performance. During resting intervals venous blood samples were taken for lactate (LA), adrenaline (A) and noradrenaline (NA) determinations. It was found that reaction time (RT) decreased gradually during exercise reaching its minimum (approx. 87% of pre-exercise value) at load 236 W (approx. 75% VO2max, HR 164 beats/min). Then, it increased rapidly, exceeding the resting level by 18%. The work load and heart rate (HR) associated with the minimal RT were higher (p < 0.001) than work load and HR associated with the LA threshold (by 46 W and 17 beats/min, respectively). Plasma A and NA showed an exponential increase during exercise with thresholds at 204 and 208 W, respectively (HR 149 and 154 beats/min). Work load at which plasma NA threshold occurred was significantly higher than the LA threshold but it did not differ from the work load associated with the minimal RT. Conversely, plasma A threshold was lower than the load of the minimal RT but did not differ significantly from LA threshold. It is concluded that young athletes continue to improve their psychomotor performance during exercise even at heavy work loads exceeding anaerobic, and plasma adrenaline thresholds. A relationship between reaction time and plasma catecholamines fits the U-shape curve.

Facilitating effects of exercise on information processing

“…These authors claimed that mental improvement during exercise may be the consequence of central noradrenergic activation. Moreover, Chmura et al (1994Chmura et al ( , 1998 have shown that there is a significant correlation between the concentration of plasma catecholamines and reaction time during exercise in man. Chmura et al (1994Chmura et al ( , 1998 claimed that increased concentrations of catecholamines in the central nervous system during exercise should induce an improvement in performance.…”

“…Moreover, Chmura et al (1994Chmura et al ( , 1998 have shown that there is a significant correlation between the concentration of plasma catecholamines and reaction time during exercise in man. Chmura et al (1994Chmura et al ( , 1998 claimed that increased concentrations of catecholamines in the central nervous system during exercise should induce an improvement in performance. Based on brain catecholamines, Pagliari and Peyrin (1995a, b) found a positive correlation between central noradrenergic activation during exercise and peripheral adrenaline secretion in rats.…”

A transient awakening of a patient with Alzheimer's disease that questions our practice

“…This is in accordance with Chmura et al. 10 showing that cortical neuroelectric activity increases with increasing intensity of physical exercises.…”

The effect of cognitive strategies of association and dissociation on central nervous activation: A controlled trial with long distance runners

“…Moderate workload exercise has the potential to improve cognitive performance [7][8][9][10][11][12][13], by increasing central nervous activation and sensory sensitivity [17]. In order to assess the effect of both associative and dissociative sessions on central nervous activation we used the critical licker fusion (CFF) frequency test.…”

“…Moderate physical exercise has the potential to improve cognitive performance [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. In addition, acute physical exercise has showed small positive effects on cognitive performance [14].…”