The study team analyzed 36 young, healthy people on a computer-based task to test how this fatigue impacts a person’s decision to exert effort. The participants underwent almost 200 trials where they had to exert physical effort to obtain different amounts of monetary rewards.

Motivation and Fatigue

The activity of the participant’s brain was monitored simultaneously by an MRI scan. It was found that people who had fatigue engaged in low motivation to work even for a reward.

Interestingly, the study revealed two different types of fatigue detected in distinct parts of the brain. One was a short-term feeling of fatigue that could be overcome after a short rest. The other one was a longer-term feeling that slowly builds up and doesn’t fade with short rests. It generally stops people from wanting to work.

A specific brain area – frontal cortex was found to have fluctuated activity in line with the predictions. On the contrary, an area called the > ventral striatum signaled the level of fatigue that influences people’s motivation to keep working.

“This work provides new ways of studying and understanding fatigue, its effects on the brain, and on why it can change some people’s motivation more than others. This helps begin to get to grips with something that affects many patients lives, as well as people while at work, school, and even elite athletes”, says Dr. Matthew Apps, senior author of the study, based at the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Human Brain Health.

Source: Medindia