Self-reported cognitive fatigue and cognitive performance
feedback-based learning, CF, fatigue
Both MS and NT participants correctly recalled more word pairs previously learned with informative feedback, compared to no feedback, suggesting that learning within both groups benefited from performance feedback. Interestingly, this comparable task performance was accompanied by higher self-reported trait fatigue and state fatigue in the MS group. These results support our second alternative behavioral hypothesis – namely, that CF does not interfere with feedback-based learning and subsequent cognitive performance in MS. These findings are consistent with other reports of no negative impact of CF on performance within other domains – such as processing speed (One possible explanation for the MS group’s effective performance is a compensatory mechanism that enabled participants to sustain cognitive performance in spite of their CF. Indeed, it has been suggested that disparities between self-reported CF and objective task performance in MS are the result of compensatory, but not necessarily efficient, functional changes within the brain (