The present study compared brain activity of adolescents with or without burnout during their responses to a computerized version of the Stroop Color and Word Test. The Sport Adaptation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory was administered to 460 Korean high school student athletes. Electroencephalographic data were recorded from frontal, central, parietal, and occipital brain regions while these participants were performing the Stroop Color and Word Test. A 2 (group) × 2 (condition) × 15 (electrodes) three-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Results indicated that the athletes without burnout exhibited significantly higher accuracy than their counterparts with burnout on the Stroop Color and Word Test. The athletes without burnout also showed higher amplitudes for theta, alpha, and beta power in the frontal areas than the athletes with burnout.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BarlowJ. S. (1985) Methods of analysis of nonstationary EEGs with emphasis on segmentation techniques: a comparative review. Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology, 2, 267–304.
2.
BeattyG. F.FawverB.HancockG. M., & JanelleC. M. (2014) Regulating emotions uniquely modifies reaction time, rate of force production, and accuracy of a goal-directed motor action. Human Movement Science, 33, 1–13.
3.
BilliotK. M.BudzynskiT. H., & AndrasikF. (1997) EEG patterns and chronic fatigue syndrome. Journal of Neurotherapy, 2(2), 20–30.
4.
BlakemoreS. J., & ChoudhuryS. (2006) Development of the adolescent brain: implications for executive function and social cognition. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(3–4), 296–312.
5.
BuzsakiG. (2006) Rhythms of the brain. New York: Oxford Univer. Press.
6.
CapuronL.WelbergL.HeimC.WagnerD.SolomonL.PapanicolaouD. A., & ReevesW. C. (2006) Cognitive dysfunction relates to subjective report of mental fatigue in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Neuropsychopharmacology, 31(8), 1777–1784.
7.
ChoW., & LeeK. (2000) Burnout levels of high school athletes in sport type and event style. Korean Journal of Physical Education: Humanities and Social Sciences, 39(4), 287–296.
8.
CoakleyJ. (1992) Burnout among adolescent athletes: a personal failure or social problem?Sociology of Sport Journal, 9(3), 271–285.
9.
CresswellS. L., & EklundR. C. (2006) The nature of player burnout in rugby: key characteristics and attributions. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 18(3), 219–239.
10.
CresswellS. L., & EklundR. C. (2007) Athlete burnout: a longitudinal qualitative study. Sport Psychologist, 21(1), 1–20.
11.
CumminsT. D., & FinniganS. (2007) Theta power is reduced in healthy cognitive aging. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 66(1), 10–17.
12.
DiFioriJ. P.BenjaminH. J.BrennerJ. S.GregoryA.JayanthiN.LandryG. L., & LukeA. (2014) Overuse injuries and burnout in youth sports: a position statement from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(4), 287–288.
13.
FenderL. K. (1988) Athletic burnout: a sport adaptation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Kent State Univer., Kent, OH.
14.
FinkA.GraifB., & NeubauerA. C. (2009) Brain correlates underlying creative thinking: EEG alpha activity in professional vs novice dancers. NeuroImage, 46(3), 854–862.
15.
Garcés de Los FayosE. J. (1999) Burnout in athletes: a study of the influence of personality, sociodemographic and sports syndrome. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
16.
GerberM.BrandS.ElliotC.Holsboer-TrachslerE.PühseU., & BeckJ. (2013) Aerobic exercise training and burnout: a pilot study with male participants suffering from burnout. BMC Research Notes, 6(1), 78.
17.
GolaM.MagnuskiM.SzumskaI., & WrobelA. (2013) EEG beta band activity is related to attention and attentional deficits in the visual performance of elderly subjects. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 89(3), 334–341.
18.
GoodgerK.GorelyT.LavalleeD., & HarwoodC. (2007) Burnout in sport: a systematic review. The Sport Psychologist, 21(2), 127–151.
19.
GüntekinB.EmekD. D.KurtP.YenerG., & BaşarE. (2013) Beta oscillatory responses in healthy subjects and subjects with mild cognitive impairment. NeuroImage: Clinical, 3, 39–46.
20.
GustafssonH.KenttäG., & HassménP. (2011) Athlete burnout: an integrated model and future research directions. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 4(1), 3–24.
21.
GustafssonH.KenttäG.HassménP., & LundqvistC. (2007) Prevalence of burnout in competitive adolescent athletes. Sport Psychologist, 21(1), 21.
22.
HammarÅ., & ÅrdalG. (2009) Cognitive functioning in major depression: a summary. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 3, 26.
23.
HomackS., & RiccioC. A. (2004) A meta-analysis of the sensitivity and specificity of the Stroop Color and Word Test with children. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 19(6), 725–743.
24.
IlanA. B., & PolichJ. (2001) Tobacco smoking and event-related brain potentials in a Stroop task. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 40(2), 109–118.
25.
InanagaK. (1998) Frontal midline theta rhythm and mental activity. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 52(6), 555–566.
26.
IshiiA.TanakaM.ShigiharaY.KanaiE.FunakuraM., & WatanabeY. (2013) Neural effects of prolonged mental fatigue: a magnetoencephalography study. Brain Research, 1529, 105–112.
27.
JasperJ. J. (1958) The ten–twenty electrode system of the International Federation. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology (Supplement), 10, 371–375.
28.
JueptnerM.StephanK. M.FrithC. D.BrooksD. J.FrackowiakR. S., & PassinghamR. E. (1997) Anatomy of motor learning: I. Frontal cortex and attention to action. Journal of Neurophysiology, 77(3), 1313–1324.
29.
KlimeschW.SausengP., & HanslmayrS. (2007) EEG alpha oscillations: the inhibition–timing hypothesis. Brain Research Reviews, 53(1), 63–88.
30.
KoenigT.PrichepL.DierksT.HublD.WahlundL. O.JohnE. R., & JelicV. (2005) Decreased EEG synchronization in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. Neurobiology of Aging, 26(2), 165–171.
31.
KrompingerJ. W., & SimonsR. F. (2011) Cognitive inefficiency in depressive undergraduates: Stroop processing and ERPs. Biological Psychology, 86(3), 239–246.
32.
LalS. K., & CraigA. (2002) Driver fatigue: electroencephalography and psychological assessment. Psychophysiology, 39(3), 313–321.
33.
LeeS., & KimY. (2007) The relationships among training amount, cognition of overtraining and sport burnout in fencers. Journal of Coaching Development, 9(4), 243–251.
34.
LevinR. L.HellerW.MohantyA.HerringtonJ. D., & MillerG. A. (2007) Cognitive deficits in depression and functional specificity of regional brain activity. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31(2), 211–233.
35.
LonsdaleC.HodgeK., & RoseE. (2009) Athlete burnout in elite sport: a self-determination perspective. Journal of Sports Sciences, 27(8), 785–795.
36.
Markela-LerencJ.IlleN.KaiserS.FiedlerP.MundtC., & WeisbrodM. (2004) Prefrontal-cingulate activation during executive control: which comes first?Cognitive Brain Research, 18(3), 278–287.
37.
MaslachC., & JacksonS. E. (1981) The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2(2), 99–113.
38.
Paelecke-HabermannY.PohlJ., & LeplowB. (2005) Attention and executive functions in remitted major depression patients. Journal of Affective Disorders, 89(1), 125–135.
39.
PalvaS., & PalvaJ. M. (2007) New vistas for α-frequency band oscillations. Trends in Neurosciences, 30(4), 150–158.
40.
PriviteraM. D., & StrawsburgR. H. (1994) Electroencephalographic monitoring in the emergency department. Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America, 12(4), 1089–1100.
41.
PurvisD.GonsalvesS., & DeusterP. A. (2010) Physiological and psychological fatigue in extreme conditions: overtraining and elite athletes. PM&R: The Journal of Injury, Function and Rehabilitation, 2(5), 442–450.
42.
RaedekeT. D., & SmithA. L. (2001) Development and preliminary validation of an athlete burnout measure. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 23, 281–306.
43.
RohG. (2005) The causes of stress of middle and high school tennis players and the degree of exhaustion. Journal of Coaching Development, 7(3), 199–210.
44.
RuchsowM.GroenG.KieferM.BeschonerP.HermleL.EbertD., & FalkensteinM. (2008) Electrophysiological evidence for reduced inhibitory control in depressed patients in partial remission: a go/nogo study. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 68(3), 209–218.
45.
RushworthM. F.NoonanM. P.BoormanE. D.WaltonM. E., & BehrensT. E. (2011) Frontal cortex and reward-guided learning and decision-making. Neuron, 70(6), 1054–1069.
46.
SandströmA.RhodinI. N.LundbergM.OlssonT., & NybergL. (2005) Impaired cognitive performance in patients with chronic burnout syndrome. Biological Psychology, 69(3), 271–279.
47.
SiegleG. J.SteinhauerS. R., & ThaseM. E. (2004) Pupillary assessment and computational modeling of the Stroop task in depression. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 52, 63–76.
48.
SiegleG. J.ThompsonW.CarterC. S.SteinhauerS. R., & ThaseM. E. (2007) Increased amygdala and decreased dorsolateral prefrontal BOLD responses in unipolar depression: related and independent features. Biological Psychiatry, 61(2), 198–209.
49.
SmithR. E. (1986) Toward a cognitive-affective model of athletic burnout. Journal of Sport Psychology, 8(1), 36–50.
50.
SongL.CheW.Min-WeiW.MurakamiY., & MatsumotoK. (2006) Impairment of the spatial learning and memory induced by learned helplessness and chronic mild stress. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 83(2), 186–193.
51.
SongW. (1999) A study on the causes of burnout and coping strategies of youth athletes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Sungkyunkwan Univer., Seoul, South Korea.
52.
SuetsugiM.MizukiY.UshijimaI.KobayashiT.TsuchiyaK.AokiT., & WatanabeY. (2000) Appearance of frontal midline theta activity in patients with generalized anxiety disorder. Neuropsychobiology, 41(2), 108–112.
53.
TanakaM.ShigiharaY.IshiiA.FunakuraM.KanaiE., & WatanabeY. (2012) Effect of mental fatigue on the central nervous system: an electroencephalography study. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 8, 48.
54.
TrederM. S.BahramisharifA.SchmidtN. M.van GervenM. A. J., & BlankertzB. (2011) Brain-computer interfacing using modulations of alpha activity induced by covert shifts of attention. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 8, 24.
55.
TuckerP.Haig-FergusonA.EatonN., & CrawleyE. (2011) What to do about attention and memory problems in children with CFS/ME: a neuropsychological approach. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 16(2), 215–223.
56.
van LuijtelaarG.VerbraakM.van den BuntM.KeijsersG., & ArnsM. (2010) EEG findings in burnout patients. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences, 22(2), 208–217.
57.
VickersD., & PackerJ. (1982) Effects of alternating set for speed or accuracy on response time, accuracy and confidence in a unidimensional discrimination task. Acta Psychologica, 50(2), 179–197.
58.
WagnerG.SinselE.SobanskiT.KöhlerS.MarinouV.MentzelH. J., & SchlösserR. G. M. (2006) Cortical inefficiency in patients with unipolar depression: an event-related fMRI study with the Stroop task. Biological Psychiatry, 59(10), 958–965.
59.
WallmanK. E.MortonA. R.GoodmanC.GroveR., & GuilfoyleA. M. (2008) Randomised controlled trial of graded exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome. The Medical Journal of Australia, 180(9), 444–448.
60.
WeiszJ. R.McCattyC. A., & ValeriS. M. (2006) Effect of psychotherapy for depression in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 132–149.
61.
WilsonG. F., & FisherF. (1995) Cognitive task classification based upon topographic EEG data. Biological Psychology, 40(1), 239–250.
62.
WoodC. C., & JenningsJ. R. (1976) Speed-accuracy tradeoff functions in choice reaction time: experimental designs and computational procedures. Perception & Psychophysics, 19(1), 92–102.
