Comparing the Effect of Fatigue on Choice Reaction Time of Healthy Men and Women

Reaction time is a good indicator of coordination between sensory motion and individual performance. It is the time interval from perceiving sudden stimulus until the reaction to that stimulus. One of the factors affecting reaction time is fatigue. Considering the different characteristics of fatigue in men and women, this study aimed to compare the effect of fatigue on the choice reaction time between men and women.
The present study has quasi-experimental design with pretest and posttest. A total of 16 healthy men and 16 healthy women within the age range of 18 to 35 years participated in this study. For measuring the reaction time and fatigue, 4-choice reaction time test and Borg Scale were used, respectively. To induce muscle fatigue, the stretch-shortening cycle protocol, which involves consecutive jumps in repetitive short and ascending cycles were used. When the participants’ attempts score to perform the protocol reached 15 or more, execution of the protocol was terminated and the test of the choice reaction time was administered using visual stimulus. Reaction time was recorded in both modes before and after the fatigue. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), and inferential statistics (correlated t test and covariance analysis) were used to analyze the obtained data. Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 19.
There was no significant difference between the choice reaction time of men and women before and after fatigue (P>0.05). Although, after fatigue, the mean score of the participants’ reaction time increased in both men and women groups, this difference was not statistically significant.
Fatigue had no significant impact on the choice reaction time of non-athlete healthy men and women. And despite different fatigue characteristics in men and women, no difference was observed in the choice reaction time between two groups. It seems that the exhaustion perceived by the participants was the result of peripheral fatigue, not central fatigue.