Exercise Science and Sports Medicine Research Unit
The Brain Function Research Group
Team
leader: Dr Lauri Rauch and Prof.
Timothy D. Noakes
The group examines how
the brain controls and modulates movement and fatigue in response to afferent
input from different physiological systems.
The group has made several
conceptual and research-based breakthroughs. These include: the concept that
the brain is the main determinant of fatigue during both exercise of short-term
and during more prolonged exercise; that the sensation of fatigue is a conscious
representation of these underlying subconscious control mechanisms; that there
are redundant control mechanism in the periphery which modulate the central
control processes in a complex system non-linear dynamic interaction. For
the first time, exercise has been shown to be regulated by the central nervous
system from the start of exercise, in a continuous and fluctuating manner,
based on prior experience, knowledge of distance and time to be completed
during an event, and current metabolic rate.
Selected research
areas:
- The extent of skeletal
muscle recruitment in upper and lower limbs of upper- and lower- limb trained
athletes during maximum exercise
- The effect of cadence
on the EMG-Power output relationship during non-fatiguing cycling exercise.
Investigation of different analysis techniques
- EEG activity of athletes
during imagery of fatiguing tasks of different intensity
- The effect of a running
partner on subconscious pacing strategies during treadmill running
- Investigation of motor
unit substitution/rotation as a protective mechanism during fatigue
- Measurement of total
limb EMG during different maximal exercises: A study of EMG normalisation
& neuromuscular recruitment
- The introduction of
a novel exercise test at a fixed effort rating: RPE “clamp”,
as a means to understanding the aetiology of fatigue and muscle recruitment
during exercise.
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