Table_2_Effects of cognitive load and different exercise intensities on perceived effort in sedentary university students: a follow up of the Cubo Fitness Test validation.docx

Work and intellectually fatiguing environments can significantly influence the health of individuals, which is strictly bound to motor efficiency. In particular, desk workers and university students may have a sedentary lifestyle and a condition of mental fatigue caused by daily routine, which could impair motor efficiency. The assessment is a starting point for enhancing awareness of the individual’s psychophysical condition through the perception of one’s body motor efficiency, motivating to move towards improvement. This way, a submaximal test based on perceived exertion was developed (Cubo Fitness Test, CFT) and validated in previous studies. Hence, two further studies were employed to enhance the consistency and accuracy of this instrument in different conditions. The first study investigated the internal responsiveness of CFT, evaluating if mental fatigue could affect motor efficiency. The second study investigated which perceived intensity (weak, moderate, strong, or absolute maximum) could be more reliable for applying the CFT (as previous research focused the investigation only on moderate intensity). In the first investigation, participants assessed two stimuli (mental fatigue induced with a Stroop color-word task and a neutral condition based on the vision of a documentary) lasting 60 min each. The quality of psychophysical recovery (total quality recovery) and the mood state (Italian Mood State questionnaire) were evaluated before the stimuli. After the fatiguing or the neutral task, the mood state was newly assessed, together with the evaluation of the workload’s characteristics (Nasa TLX) and the CFT motor efficiency. In the second investigation, participants had to perform CFT twice for each at different intensities of Borg’s Scale of perceived exertion. Researchers successfully requested to fill out the NASA TLX questionnaire regarding the perceived workload characteristics of CFT, and the reliability of each intensity was assessed. Results seem to enhance the consistency and the accuracy of the instrument. Indeed, findings evidenced that CFT is not influenced by mental fatigue conditions typical of the intellectual work of desk workers and university students for which this test was specifically conceived. Moreover, moderate and strong perceived intensity are the most adequate conditions to assess motor efficiency in these populations.

工作与脑力疲劳环境会显著影响个体健康，而健康状况与运动表现效率密切相关。具体而言，伏案工作者与大学生往往因日常事务养成久坐生活方式，并产生精神疲劳状态，进而损害运动表现效率。此类评估可通过感知个体自身的身体运动效率，帮助提升对其身心状态的认知，进而推动其改善自身状况。基于此，研究团队开发了一种基于自觉用力程度（perceived exertion）的亚最大运动测试（submaximal test），即库博体能测试（Cubo Fitness Test, CFT），并在既往研究中完成了效度验证。因此，本研究开展两项补充实验，以提升该测试工具在不同场景下的一致性与准确性。第一项实验探究了CFT的内部响应性，旨在验证精神疲劳是否会对运动表现效率产生影响。第二项实验则探究了在应用CFT时，哪种自觉用力强度（微弱、中等、较强或极限最大）的信度更高——既往研究仅针对中等强度开展了相关探究。在第一项实验中，受试者需完成两项持续60分钟的任务：一项为通过斯特鲁普色词任务（Stroop color-word task）诱发精神疲劳的疲劳任务，另一项为观看纪录片的中性对照任务。在两项任务开始前，研究人员会评估受试者的身心恢复质量（total quality recovery）以及情绪状态（意大利情绪状态问卷）。在疲劳任务或中性任务结束后，研究人员会再次评估受试者的情绪状态，并同时对任务负荷特征（NASA任务负荷指数量表，NASA TLX）以及CFT的运动表现效率进行测评。在第二项实验中，受试者需根据博格自觉用力量表（Borg’s Scale of perceived exertion）的不同强度等级，分别完成两次CFT测试。研究人员成功引导受试者填写了针对CFT任务负荷特征的NASA TLX问卷，并对各强度等级下测试的信度进行了评估。实验结果有效提升了该测试工具的一致性与准确性。具体而言，研究结果证实，CFT不受伏案工作者与大学生这类脑力工作群体典型的精神疲劳状态影响——而该测试正是专为这类群体开发的。此外，中等强度与较强的自觉用力等级是针对这类群体评估运动表现效率的最适宜参数。