Performance and Learning a Gross Motor Skill under Conditions of Artificially-Induced Fatigue

Abstract

Abstract The status of physical fatigue as a variable affecting performance and/or learning of a gross motor skill was investigated. Three groups practiced ten 30-second trials on the Bachman ladder with a 90-second intertrial interval (Day 1). Two fatigue groups rode a bicycle ergometer for two minutes prior to Trial 1, and thereafter, for 75 seconds between each subsequential ladder trial at work loads of 750 (N = 13) and 1200 (N = 14) kgm/min., respectively. A control group (N = 20) cancelled vowels between trials. All groups returned two days later (Day 2) for four trials with intertrial rest, the mean of which was the criterion of amount learned. Fatiguing activity caused decrements in Day 1 performance (F = 3.32), but failed to affect Day 2 performance (F = .47), indicating that fatigue was a performance variable rather than a learning variable.