PNASJClub
A causal account of the neural origins of mental fatigue.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · · Journal Article
Xia, Vural + more
Abstract ↗AI summary
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Increasing dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) excitability during an effortful mental task causally improves performance but increases posteffort motivational fatigue.
- Why it matters: It is unclear why engaging cognitive control feels effortful and produces fatigue, limiting neuro-metabolic explanations of motivational decline after demanding cognition.
- What they did: The study combined brain stimulation with spectroscopy imaging to test whether DLPFC activation changes motivation for mental effort and prefrontal glutamate metabolites during sustained effort.
- The result: DLPFC stimulation raised prefrontal glutamate and Glx concentrations, and these neurochemical changes statistically explained the reduced motivation for mental effort after fatigue.
The findingWhy it mattersWhat they didThe result
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