Mental Fatigue, Attentional Focus, and Countermovement Jump Performance

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Mental-Fatigue Protocol (Stroop Task): A 30-minute computerized color-word Stroop interference task delivered as one uninterrupted block on a custom program, in which participants identify the font color of color-word stimuli while ignoring word meaning, inducing acute mental fatigue prior to countermovement jump testing.

Control Protocol (Nature Video): Approximately 30 minutes of passive viewing of a narration-free nature video under standardized lighting, seating, and sound conditions, serving as the non-fatiguing control condition matched in duration to the mental-fatigue protocol.

No Prescribed Focus Instruction: A verbal cue delivered before each jump attempt with no directional attentional instruction: "When you are ready, jump as high as possible."

Internal Focus Instruction: A verbal cue delivered before each jump attempt directing attention to the participant's own body movements: "When you are ready, focus on extending your knees and hips as quickly and explosively as possible while jumping as high as possible."

External Focus Instruction: A verbal cue delivered before each jump attempt directing attention to the effect of movement on the environment: "When you are ready, focus on pushing the ground away from you as quickly and explosively as possible while jumping as high as possible."

Study summary

This study examines whether short-term mental fatigue and different jump instructions affect how high people can jump. Thirty-two physically active university students will complete two testing sessions in random order: one after a 30-minute mentally tiring computer task and one after a 30-minute relaxing video. In both sessions, participants will perform vertical jumps while receiving one of three types of instructions: no special instruction, focusing on their own body movements, or focusing on pushing the ground away. The study will compare jump height across these conditions to better understand how mental tiredness and coaching cues affect jumping performance, which may help coaches and athletes design better training and competition preparation.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Countermovement Jump Height — Assessed once per attentional-focus condition (higher of two valid trials) approximately 30 seconds after completion of each 30-minute protocol (control or mental fatigue), across two sessions separated by at least 72 hours.
  Vertical jump height, measured in centimeters, recorded using a validated video-based jump-analysis application (My Jump Lab) at 240 frames per second. The higher of two valid trials in each protocol-by-attentional-focus condition (control vs. mental fatigue x no prescribed focus, internal focus, external focus) will be retained as the outcome value for that condition.

Trial sites (1)

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