08/09/2026
Cognitive stress makes fatigue harder to recognise ⚙️⚠️
Tyagi & Mehta (2027) combined fNIRS and EMG while adults performed fatiguing exercise under cognitive stress.
Stress prolonged endurance and reduced perceived effort, but motor performance became less precise. The researchers also observed reduced functional segregation in the prefrontal cortex, suggesting changes in the executive attentional processes involved in recognising fatigue.
For people working under simultaneous cognitive and physical demands, this matters: feeling less fatigued may not mean performance is unaffected.
The findings demonstrate how fNIRS can help investigate brain function alongside behaviour and physiology in neuroergonomic research.
Read the full study here:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2026.104843