TITLE:
A 5-Minute Rest Period Weakens the Phenomenon of History Dependence of Freely Chosen Pedalling Cadence and Entails a Borderland Observation
AUTHORS:
Elham Sheikulislami, Jasmin Bergholt, Gustav Peter Hahn Balle, Ingi Dam, Clara Harboe Friis Nørtoft, Ernst Albin Hansen
KEYWORDS:
Cycling, Motor Behaviour, Motor Control, Pedal Rate, Preferred Pedalling Frequency, Rhythmic Movement
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Physical Education,
Vol.12 No.2,
May
18,
2022
ABSTRACT: Background: It was recently reported that the freely chosen
cadence at the end of a bout of pedalling depended on relatively high and low
preset cadences applied at the beginning of the bout. This was denoted as a
phenomenon of motor behavioural history dependence. Objective: The
present study aimed at expanding that recent finding by testing whether the
described history dependence occurred if 5-min rest was incorporated between
the initial pedalling at preset cadence and the final pedalling at freely
chosen cadence. Methods: Twenty-six participants performed three separate
sequences of submaximal ergometer pedalling. In sequence A, pedalling at
50 rpm was followed by 5-min rest and pedalling at freely chosen cadence. In
sequence B, pedalling at 90 rpm was followed by 5-min rest and pedalling at freely chosen cadence. In
sequence C (denoted reference), the cadence was freely chosen throughout all
pedalling. Behavioural (cadence), biomechanical (tangential pedal force), and physiological
(heart rate) responses were measured. Results: Initial pedalling at 90
rpm caused the subsequent freely chosen cadence (74.5 ± 3.3 rpm) to be about 6%
higher (p = 0.001) than the reference freely chosen cadence at the end
of sequence C (70.8 ± 3.2 rpm). A similar difference did not occur between sequences
A and C. Conclusions: These divergent findings, combined with previous
reports of clear history dependence in pedalling sequences (performed similarly
to here, only without incorporated rest periods), overall suggest that the
present observations reflected a borderland of motor behavioural history
dependence. Further, the 5-min incorporated rest apparently weakened the history
dependence phenomenon.