Brain Stimulation Over the Motion-Sensitive Midtemporal Area Reduces Deleterious Effects of Mental Fatigue on Perceptual–Cognitive Skills in Basketball Players

The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) over the motion-sensitive midtemporal area on perceptual–cognitive skills (visuomotor and basketball decision-making skills) in mentally fatigued basketball players. A total of 20 male basketball players were recruited. This was a randomized, double-blinded, and counterbalanced crossover study with two experimental conditions: a-tDCS and Sham. The participants completed the basketball decision-making task and visuomotor skill after performing a 60-min sport-based videogame task with anodal (i.e., a-tDCS) or placebo (Sham) stimulation over the motion-sensitive middle temporal area. Worse response time was observed in visuomotor skill for Sham than a-tDCS postexperiment ( p < .05). There was no main condition effect for accuracy of visuomotor skill ( p > .05). There was more impairment in accuracy and response time in basketball decision-making skills for the Sham condition than a-tDCS ( p < .05). Notably, a-tDCS over the motion-sensitive middle temporal area removed the negative effects of mental fatigue on perceptual–cognitive skills.