The Role of Information Processing Between the Brain and Peripheral Physiological Systems in Pacing and Perception of Effort

Abstract

This article examines how pacing strategies during exercise are controlled by information processing between the brain and peripheral physiological systems. It is suggested that, although several different pacing strategies can be used by athletes for events of different distance or duration, the underlying principle of how these different overall pacing strategies are controlled is similar. Perhaps the most important factor allowing the establishment of a pacing strategy is knowledge of the endpoint of a particular event. The brain centre controlling pace incorporates knowledge of the endpoint into an algorithm, together with memory of prior events of similar distance or duration, and knowledge of external (environmental) and internal (metabolic) conditions to set a particular optimal pacing strategy for a particular exercise bout. It is proposed that an internal clock, which appears to use scalar rather than absolute time scales, is used by the brain to generate knowledge of the duration or distance still to be covered, so that power output and metabolic rate can be altered appropriately throughout an event of a particular duration or distance. Although the initial pace is set at the beginning of an event in a feedforward manner, no event or internal physiological state will be identical to what has occurred previously. Therefore, continuous adjustments to the power output in the context of the overall pacing strategy occur throughout the exercise bout using feedback information from internal and external receptors. These continuous adjustments in power output require a specific length of time for afferent information to be assessed by the brain's pace control algorithm, and for efferent neural commands to be generated, and we suggest that it is this time lag that crates the fluctuations in power output that occur during an exercise bout. These non-monotonic changes in power output during exercise, associated with information processing between the brain and peripheral physiological systems, are crucial to maintain the overall pacing strategy chosen by the brain algorithm of each athlete at the start of the exercise bout.

Physiological and Psychological Effects of Deception on Pacing Strategy and Performance: A Review

“…This final point has been evidenced by Ansley et al [8] who showed that cyclists expecting a 30-second Wingate test, but unknowingly performed a 36-second Wingate test, had a lower 30-36-second power output compared to the final six seconds of a correctly informed 30-second test. Such findings lend support for the notion of teleoanticipation in which knowledge of the endpoint, known as the 'anchor point', has a crucial role in the anticipatory setting of the pace [15] . Teleoanticipation has also been evidenced in multiple studies investigating the effect of unknown durations of exercise on performance [44][45][46][47][48] .…”

“…Oxygen saturation, glycogen levels [7] and metabolic fuel reserves, for example, act not just as metabolic by-products, but as internal signallers [1] . On the other hand, environmental conditions such as gradient, terrain, weather, oxygen content of inspired air, knowledge of the event (for example distance or duration] [8] , previous experience [9,10] and competition [11,12] all equate to external cues [13][14][15] .…”

“…Pacing strategy is proposed to be established pre-exercise, based upon experience-primed interpretation of these internal and external cues [10] , resulting in the selection of work-rate or intensity by efferent neural commands sent from the central nervous system [1,3,15] . This subconscious, feedforward integration process has been termed "teleoanticipation" [16] and is a key element of the CGM [17] .…”

“…Further regulation of work-rate and the subsequent metabolic responses occurring throughout the exercise are continuously adjusted as feedback control mechanisms relay information from physiological peripheral systems, which are integrated in relation to external feedback [15,29] . This continuous adjustment of pacing strategy allows A review on deception and pacing strategies 4 completion of the exercise without inducing catastrophic physiological failure.…”

Effect of β-alanine supplementation on 20 km cycling time trial performance

“…ere is also a variety, possibly an in nite number, of pacing strategies available to an individual 29 . However, if pacing strategies were employed by the athletes in the present study variables such as heart rate, blood lactate and particularly the RPE responses to exercise would have been lower in the group supplemented with β-alanine.…”