PreprintArticleVersion 1This version is not peer-reviewed
Improvement of Motor Task Performance: Effects of Verbal Encouragement and Music - Key Results from a Randomized Crossover Study with Electromyographic Data
Version 1
: Received: 1 July 2024 / Approved: 2 July 2024 / Online: 2 July 2024 (10:20:39 CEST)
How to cite:
Cotellessa, F.; Bragazzi, N. L.; Trompetto, C.; Marinelli, L.; Mori, L.; Faelli, E.; Schenone, C.; Ceylan, H. İ.; Biz, C.; Ruggieri, P.; Puce, L. Improvement of Motor Task Performance: Effects of Verbal Encouragement and Music - Key Results from a Randomized Crossover Study with Electromyographic Data. Preprints2024, 2024070180. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0180.v1
Cotellessa, F.; Bragazzi, N. L.; Trompetto, C.; Marinelli, L.; Mori, L.; Faelli, E.; Schenone, C.; Ceylan, H. İ.; Biz, C.; Ruggieri, P.; Puce, L. Improvement of Motor Task Performance: Effects of Verbal Encouragement and Music - Key Results from a Randomized Crossover Study with Electromyographic Data. Preprints 2024, 2024070180. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0180.v1
Cotellessa, F.; Bragazzi, N. L.; Trompetto, C.; Marinelli, L.; Mori, L.; Faelli, E.; Schenone, C.; Ceylan, H. İ.; Biz, C.; Ruggieri, P.; Puce, L. Improvement of Motor Task Performance: Effects of Verbal Encouragement and Music - Key Results from a Randomized Crossover Study with Electromyographic Data. Preprints2024, 2024070180. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0180.v1
APA Style
Cotellessa, F., Bragazzi, N. L., Trompetto, C., Marinelli, L., Mori, L., Faelli, E., Schenone, C., Ceylan, H. İ., Biz, C., Ruggieri, P., & Puce, L. (2024). Improvement of Motor Task Performance: Effects of Verbal Encouragement and Music - Key Results from a Randomized Crossover Study with Electromyographic Data. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0180.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Cotellessa, F., Pietro Ruggieri and Luca Puce. 2024 "Improvement of Motor Task Performance: Effects of Verbal Encouragement and Music - Key Results from a Randomized Crossover Study with Electromyographic Data" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.0180.v1
Abstract
External motivational stimuli have been shown to improve athletic performance. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this improvement remain poorly understood. This randomized crossover study investigated the effects of music and verbal encouragement on measures of muscle excitation and myoelectric manifestations of fatigue in the biceps brachii (BB) and brachioradialis (BR) muscles during an endurance task. Fifteen untrained (mean age 29.57 ± 2.77 years) and 13 trained individuals (mean age 32.92 ± 2.90 years) were included. The endurance task, performed to exhaustion, consisted of keeping the dominant arm flexed to 90 degrees while holding a dumbbell loaded to 80% of 1RM with a supine grip in three randomized conditions: standard, with self-selected music, and with verbal encouragement.
The untrained subjects showed an increase in task duration of 15.26% (p < 0.003) with music and 15.85% (p < 0.002) with verbal encouragement compared to the condition without external stimuli. There were no significant differences in the myoelectric manifestations of fatigue between the dif-ferent conditions. Regarding the muscle excitation metrics, although the mean amplitude, peak value and area under the curve remained unchanged across conditions, a significant reduction in the trend coefficient, indicating motor unit recruitment over time, was observed with both music (BB: -10.39%, p < 0.001; BR: -9.40%, p < 0.001) and verbal encouragement (BB: -7.61%, p < 0.001; BR: -6.51%, p < 0.001) compared to the standard condition.
For the trained participants, no significant differences were observed between conditions in terms of task duration and outcome measures related to muscle excitation and myoelectric manifestations of fatigue, suggesting the possible presence of a ceiling effect on motivation.
These results highlight the significant role of external motivational stimuli, such as music and verbal encouragement, in improving task performance in untrained subjects, probably through more ef-fective and efficient recruitment of motor units.
Keywords
motor recruitment; muscle excitation; muscle fatigue; endurance task; motivation
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Other
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
