Samuele M Marcora

University of Bologna | UNIBO · Department of Biomedical Science and Neuromotor Sciences DIBINEM

Introduction The ability to perform optimally under pressure is critical across many occupations, including the military, first responders, and competitive sport. Despite recognition that such performance depends on a range of cognitive factors, how common these factors are across performance domains remains unclear. The current study sought to int...

Purpose In several sports, such as table tennis, athletes have to distribute their cognitive resources to relevant cues that could decrease performance (Le Mansec et al., 2012; Moreira et al., 2021). This study investigated how table tennis athletes are able to manage single- and dual-task situations, respectively. Methods: Thirteen expert table te...

A systematic literature review about the relationship between Active Mobility and Mental Health

Background The perception of effort provides information on task difficulty and influences physical exercise regulation and human behavior. This perception differs from other-exercise related perceptions such as pain. There is no consensus on the role of group III/IV muscle afferents as a signal processed by the brain to generate the perception of...

Purpose This study aimed at comparing the predictive accuracy of the power law (PL), 2-parameter hyperbolic (HYP) and linear (LIN) models on elite 1-h track running performance, and evaluating pacing profile and running pattern of the men’s best two 1-h track running performances of all times. Methods The individual running speed–distance profile...

The aim of this study was to establish whether a resistance exercise for the upper body may generate a postactivation performance enhancement (PAPE) in the lower body. Thirteen resistance-trained men (age 5 26.4 6 3.3 years, body mass 5 76.9 6 6.3 kg, and height 5 177.6 6 5.2 cm) participated in the present investigation and were tested for upper-b...

Purpose: Professional football players experience both physical and mental fatigue (MF). The main aims of this randomized crossover study were to investigate the effect of MF on repeated-sprint ability (RSA) and the effects of both physical fatigue and MF on psychomotor vigilance. Methods: Seventeen male professional football players performed 1...

A conceptual framework has a central role in the scientific process. Its purpose is to synthesize evidence, assist in understanding phenomena, inform future research and act as a reference operational guide in practical settings. We propose an updated conceptual framework intended to facilitate the validation and interpretation of physical training...

Purpose This study investigated the effect of ischemic preconditioning (IP) on metaboreflex activation following dynamic leg extension exercise in a group of healthy participants. Method Seventeen healthy participants were recruited. IP and SHAM treatments (3 × 5 min cuff occlusion at 220 mmHg or 20 mmHg, respectively) were administered in a rando...

BACKGROUND: The perception of effort (PE) provides information on task difficulty and influences physical exercise regulation and human behavior. This perception differs from other-exercise related perceptions such as pain. There is no consensus on the role of group III-IV muscle afferents as a signal processed by the brain to generate PE. OBJECT...

Purpose: Sleep deprivation (SD) is very common during ultraendurance competitions. At present, stimulants such as caffeine and naps are the main strategies used to reduce the negative effects of SD on ultraendurance performance. In this case study, the authors describe the application of a novel strategy consisting of the intermittent repetition of...

The ability to perform optimally under pressure is critical across many occupations, including the military, first responders, and competitive sport, and depends on a range of cognitive factors. How common these key performance factors are across application domains remains unclear. The current study sought to integrate existing knowledge in the pe...

Purpose Mental Fatigue (MF) is a psychobiological state caused by prolonged periods of demanding cognitive activity 1 that can lead to both cognitive and physical performance impairments. Some authors have demonstrated detrimental effects of MF on endurance performance 2 but the results are controversial. Different studies 3,4 have suggested the hi...

Purpose It is well established that mental fatigue impairs performance during lab-based endurance tests lasting less than 45 min. However, the effects of mental fatigue on longer duration endurance events and in field settings are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mental fatigue on performance during a half-marathon ra...

Purpose It is well established that mental fatigue impairs performance during lab-based endurance tests lasting < 45 min. However, the effects of mental fatigue on longer-duration endurance events and in field settings are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mental fatigue on performance during a half-marathon race. Meth...

There is potential in delivering brief, educational interventions online, particularly for recreational athletes. This initial investigation examined how two online interventions were perceived by endurance participants and how they affected outcomes of interest. After measuring self-efficacy, 142 people were randomized to one of three groups (self...

A conceptual framework has a central role in the scientific process. Its purpose is to synthesize evidence, assist in understanding phenomena, inform future research and act as a reference operational guide in practical settings. We propose an updated conceptual framework intended to facilitate the validation and interpretation of physical training...

PURPOSE: Perceptions of effort (PE) and muscle pain (MP) influence performance and engagement in regular physical exercise. Literature-based standardized instructions describe PE as resulting from multiple sensory cues including “aches”. This description of PE creates a possible confound when PE and MP are being considered separately. This project...

Background and Aims: People with type 1 diabetes (T1D) experience higher rates of sleep disturbances than those without diabetes, and this can have negative implications for glycemic control. Sleep is critical for optimal athletic performance and recovery so it is important to have an understanding of factors that can influence sleep in athletes wi...

Context: Referees' physical and cognitive performance are important for successful officiating in team sports. There is a lack of research on cognitive performance of referees in general, and none in futsal. Purpose: To assess referees' performance on the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) before and after competitive futsal matches during the Foo...

Purpose Despite their widespread use in exercise physiology, time-to-exhaustion (TTE) tests present an often-overlooked challenge to researchers, which is how to computationally deal with between- and within-subject differences in exercise duration. We aimed to verify the best analysis method to overcome this problem. Methods Eleven cyclists perfo...

Purpose: To investigate the effect of inhaling 1600 µg of salbutamol (SAL) on 30 m sprint before and after the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery test. Methods: In a randomised cross over single blind study 13 male non-asthmatic, football players volunteered (mean ± SD; age 18.1 ± 0.9 years; weight 69.5 ± 8.3 kg; height 178 ± 6.5 cm). Participants comple...

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is a crucial brain region for inhibitory control, an executive function essential for behavioral self-regulation. Recently, inhibitory control has been shown to be important for endurance performance. Improvement in inhibitory control was found following transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) appli...

Purpose It has recently been reported that professional road cyclists have superior inhibitory control and resistance to mental fatigue compared to recreational cyclists. We sought to assess whether badminton players also have superior executive functions and whether they are more resistant to mental fatigue than controls on a visuomotor task. Met...

This investigation assessed the impact of three cognitively demanding tasks on cognitive performance, subjective, and physiological indicators of mental fatigue. Following familiarization, participants completed four testing sessions, separated by 48 h. During each session, participants watched a 45-min emotionally neutral documentary (control) or...

INTRODUCTION: It has been hypostasized that acute negative effect of mental fatigue (MF) could potentially become a training stimulus for the brain (Brain endurance training [BET]) to adapt and improve its ability to better sustain or attenuate MF states during sport competitions. The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of BET to reduce fati...

PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of twice daily inhalation of 100 μg of salmeterol or 12 μg of formoterol in addition to a strength and power training programme over a 5-wk period on 30-m sprint, strength, power, mood, stress, and skinfold thickness. METHODS: In a randomized single-blind study, 23 male and 15 female nonasthmatic, recreationally...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that subjective thermal strain can reduce endurance performance independently from the general physiological strain normally associated with impaired endurance performance in the heat. Methods: In 20 °C and 44% relative humidity, 12 endurance-trained athletes (1♀ 11♂; mean ± SD; age: 27 ±...

Exercise is a stressor that induces various psychophysiological responses, which mediate cellular adaptations in many organ systems. To maximize this adaptive response, coaches and scientists need to control the stress applied to the athlete at the individual level. To achieve this, precise control and manipulation of the training load are required...

Background: Stimulation of the right and left anterior insular cortex, increases and decreases the cardiovascular response respectively, thus indicating the brain’s lateralization of the neural control of circulation. Previous experiments have demonstrated that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) modulates the autonomic cardiovascular co...

Endurance athletes draw on several sources of self-efficacy, but there is a limited understanding of what information within these sources specifically contributes towards self-efficacy. An increased understanding and awareness of the sources of self-efficacy for endurance performance would allow the design and delivery of more effective self-effic...

The capacity to sustain high-intensity aerobic exercise is essential for endurance performance. Therefore, it is important to understand what is the factor limiting time to exhaustion (TTE) in healthy and fit adults. In Study 1, maximal voluntary cycling power (MVCP) was measured in 11 volunteers before and immediately after a high-intensity TTE te...

Fatigue is a complex state with multiple physiological and psychological origins. However, fatigue in soccer has traditionally been investigated from a physiological perspective, with little emphasis on the cognitive demands of competition. These cognitive demands may induce mental fatigue, which could contribute to the fatigue-related performance...

Modern warfare operations often occur in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments accompanied by physical exertion, cognitive overload, sleep restriction and caloric deprivation. The increasingly fast-paced nature of these operations requires military personnel to demonstrate readiness and resiliency in the face of stressful...

IntroductionMental fatigue is a psychobiological state caused by prolonged periods of demanding cognitive activity that has negative implications on many aspects in daily life. Caffeine and carbohydrate ingestion have been shown to be able to reduce these negative effects of mental fatigue. Intake of these substances might however be less desirable...

Background: Caffeine has a well-established effect on reaction times (RTs) but the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this are unclear. Methods: In the present study, 15 female participants performed an oddball task after ingesting caffeine or a placebo, and electroencephalographic data were obtained. Single-trial P3b latencies locked to the s...

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been used to enhance endurance performance but its precise mechanisms and effects remain unknown. Objective: To investigate the effect of bilateral tDCS on neuromuscular function and performance during a cycling time to task failure (TTF) test. Methods: Twelve participants in randomized...

PurposeTime to exhaustion (TTE) tests used in the determination of critical power (CP) and curvature constant (W′) of the power–duration relationship are strongly influenced by the perception of effort (PE). This study aimed to investigate whether manipulation of the PE alters the CP and W′. Methods Eleven trained cyclists completed a series of TTE...

Background: Mental fatigue is a psychobiological state caused by prolonged periods of demanding cognitive activity. It has recently been suggested that mental fatigue can affect physical performance. Objective: Our objective was to evaluate the literature on impairment of physical performance due to mental fatigue and to create an overview of th...

This study examined the effects of strategic, motivational self-talk for runners completing a 60-mile, overnight ultramarathon using a randomised, controlled experiment. Data were collected before, during, and after an annual ultramarathon. Twenty-nine ultramarathon runners were randomly allocated to a motivational self-talk group or an alternative...

Since respiratory frequency (fR ) has been proposed as a good marker of physical effort, furthering the understanding of how fR is regulated during exercise is of great importance. We manipulated recovery intensity and exercise duration during high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to test the hypothesis that fast inputs (including central command...

Purpose: Mental fatigue is a psychobiological state caused by prolonged periods of demanding cognitive activity and has been observed to decrease time-trial (TT) endurance performance by ~3,5% in normal ambient temperatures. Recently it has been suggested that heat may augment the negative effect of mental fatigue on cognitive performance, raising...

Purpose: To investigate the effects of caffeine on performance, neuromuscular fatigue and perception of effort during high-intensity cycling exercise in moderate hypoxia. Methods: Seven adult male participants firstly underwent an incremental exercise test on a cycle ergometer in conditions of acute normobaric hypoxia (fraction inspired oxygen =...

Objectives: People frown during strenuous exercise. Research on the facial feedback hypothesis raises the intriguing possibility that frowning may modulate (i.e., amplify or soften) perception of effort during endurance performance and therefore play a causal role in endurance performance. This study examined whether intentionally frowning througho...

This study aimed to identify psychological demands that are commonly experienced by endurance athletes so that these demands could inform the design of performance-enhancing psychological interventions for endurance athletes. Focus group interviews were conducted with 30 recreational endurance athletes of various sports (running, cycling, and triat...

The article ’Effect of a Mediterranean type diet on inflammatory and cartilage degradation biomarkers in patients with osteoarthritis‘, written by J. Dyer, G. Davison, S. M. Marcora, Alexis R. Mauger, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on 28 September 2016 without open access. With th...

The V˙O2 slow component (V˙O2sc) that develops during high-intensity aerobic exercise is thought to be strongly associated with locomotor muscle fatigue. We sought to experimentally test this hypothesis by pre-fatiguing the locomotor muscles used during subsequent high-intensity cycling exercise. Over two separate visits, eight healthy male partici...

We recently developed a high intensity one leg dynamic exercise (OLDE) protocol to measure muscle endurance and investigate the central and peripheral mechanisms of muscle fatigue. The aims of the present study were to establish the reliability of this novel protocol and describe the isokinetic muscle fatigue induced by high intensity OLDE and its...

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can increase cortical excitability of a targeted brain area, which may affect endurance exercise performance. However, optimal electrode placement for tDCS remains unclear. We tested the effect of two different tDCS electrode montages for improving exercise performance. Nine subjects underwent a contro...

Objectives To investigate the effects of a Mediterranean type diet on patients with osteoarthritis (OA). Participants: Ninety-nine volunteers with OA (aged 31 – 90 years) completed the study (83% female). SettingSoutheast of England, UK. Design: Participants were randomly allocated to the dietary intervention (DIET, n = 50) or control (CON, n = 49)...