Effects of mental fatigue on agility and coordination in female soccer players under high ambient temperature.

Authors

Yuankang Wang, Yimei Duan, Guotian Lu, Mengda Wu

Published in

Frontiers in physiology. Volume 17. Pages 1964642. Epub Sep 21, 2026.

Abstract

To explore the effects of mental fatigue (MF) induced under high ambient temperature on agility and coordination in female soccer players.
A randomized crossover design was adopted. Twenty-four female soccer players were recruited, and 19 participants completed all experimental sessions in a randomized balanced crossover design under high temperature (≥32 °C) or normal temperature (23 ± 1 °C), including either a 45-min Stroop task or a neutral video-watching control task followed by the Illinois agility test and the Harre circuit test, with a one-week washout period. All 19 participants were included in the final statistical analyses.Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA was used to examine the main and interactive effects of ambient temperature and MF.
The 45-min Stroop task successfully induced a mental fatigue state. High ambient temperature was associated with an overall elevation in subjective mental fatigue levels, with a large main effect size (p < 0.001, η²p=0.713). For agility, both MF and high temperature exerted independent detrimental main effects: MF significantly prolonged agility performance time (p < 0.001, η²p=0.603), and high temperature also significantly impaired agility (p = 0.002, η²p=0.414), with no significant interaction (p = 0.102). For coordination, a significant interaction was found between temperature and MF (p < 0.001). Simple effects analysis showed that MF had no significant effect on coordination under normal temperature (p = 0.751), and high temperature alone did not impair coordination (p = 0.757). However, the combination of high temperature and MF significantly deteriorated coordination (p < 0.001, d_z = 1.247, 95% CI = 0.604~1.889). In addition, both MF and high temperature independently increased ratings of perceived exertion (RPE, p ≤ 0.001), while the decline in motivation was mainly attributed to high temperature (p = 0.003, η²p=0.397).
No significant interaction was detected between ambient temperature and mental fatigue for agility performance, and the results were compatible with an independent additive pattern. For coordination, a significant Temperature × MF interaction effect was observed, whereby coordination performance was only significantly impaired when high ambient temperature and mental fatigue co-occurred. It is recommended to strictly manage athletes' cognitive load before matches in hot environments to reduce the risk of MF and maintain stable performance of specific physical qualities.

PMID:
42834922
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Oct 2026.

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