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A simple psychological explanation

Posted by PeterPrudon on 16 May 2015 at 10:46 GMT

Interesting finding with potential, practical implications. However, why should one think of a neuro-physiological explanation? An alternative idea would be:
Stationary cycling is a dull, boring task, experienced as rather useless, and this decreases the motivation to continue it with sustained energy, or continue it at all, especially in the case of persons, hampered by Parkinson's disease. The easy cognitive tasks distracted the subjects from the dullness of stationary cycling and its fatiguing and annoying aspects, helping them to hold on. It does so until the load of these tasks becomes too heavy.

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