Underlying factors in the responsiveness to Mental Fatigue: What can interindividual differences tell us?

Mental fatigue (MF) is a psychobiological state that arises during
prolonged demanding cognitive activity and results in acute feelings
of tiredness and decreased human performance throughout the
general population. Research has shown that there is great variability
in the individual response to MF, and links this to the presence of
internal factors (e.g. age). However, not only has no project
investigated these claims, traditional MF research often displays
questionable approaches (e.g. no relevant brain measurements). The
general aim of my project is to assess the presence of interindividual
differences in the established effect of MF on performance, to
evaluate the robustness of these differences over time and to
analyse factors that could underlie these differences. This will
primarily be done by performing 2 large experimental studies where I
will investigate the effect of different factors on MF-related
decrements in performance using state-of-the-art measures (brain
imaging and genetic analysis). The findings of the project will also be
translated to daily life, designing a preliminary test battery that can in
turn lead to more applied interventions to combat MF in both healthy
and diseased populations. Not only will this project negate some
researchers’ doubts surrounding the effect of MF on human
performance, the knowledge of possible influencing factors combined
with state-of-the-art measures will greatly improve our understanding
of MF and its mechanisms.