Introduction
RPE, Neuromuscular fatigue
CORTEX
Neuromuscular fatigue is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon that has attracted attention for more than a century [It has been shown that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) at the top of the motor hierarchy and the primary motor cortex (M1) as a downstream area are two important regions that have been corroborated to contribute the most to physical performance [Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulatory technique that may induce changes in ongoing brain activity and/or change neuronal excitability in a polarity-dependent manner [It is noteworthy that many sporting activities involve short bouts of maximal or all-out effort ranging from a few seconds (5 to 10 s) to less than one minute interspersed with periods of sub-maximal activities in between, also known as anaerobic activity [Taken together, these raise the question of whether applying tDCS over the brain regions involved in regulating such mechanisms could improve repeated anaerobic performance and whether the tDCS target (i.e., M1 vs. DLPFC) could induce different results. Hence, we aimed to investigate the effects of anodal tDCS over M1 and DLPFC on anaerobic performance in repeated all-out anaerobic exercise, physiological, psychophysiological, and cognitive responses. We hypothesized that both tDCS montages targeting M1 and DLPFC (a) would improve repeated anaerobic performance; (b) increase the electromyographic (EMG) amplitude of the tight muscles; (c) decrease RPE; (d) increase the affective responses; and (e) improve the cognitive performance in repeated all-out cycling task [