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Cited by 86Muscle metabolism and nutritionSports Performance and TrainingBiochemical effects in animals

Can Creatine Combat the Mental Fatigue–associated Decrease in Visuomotor Skills?

VAN CUTSEM, JEROEN, ROELANDS, BART, PLUYM, BERT, TASSIGNON, BRUNO, VERSCHUEREN, JO, DE PAUW, KEVIN, MEEUSEN, ROMAIN·2020·Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
DOI 10.1249/mss.0000000000002122
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Abstract

PURPOSE: The importance of the brain in sports was recently confirmed by the negative effect of mental fatigue (MF) on sport-specific psychomotor skills. Creatine supplementation improves strength but can also improve cognitive functioning. To explore the role of creatine in combating MF, we evaluated whether creatine supplementation counteracts the MF-associated impairment in sport-specific psychomotor skills. METHODS: In 23°C, 14 healthy participants (4 females, 10 males; mean ± SD, age = 24 ± 3 yr, mass = 74 ± 13 kg, height = 179 ± 9 cm) performed a 90-min mentally fatiguing task (counterbalanced, crossover, and double-blinded; i.e., Stroop task) in two different conditions: after a 7-d creatine supplementation (CR; 20 g·d) and after a 7-d calcium lactate supplementation (placebo [PLAC]), separated by a 5-wk washout. In both conditions, a 7-min sport-specific visuomotor task, a dynamic handgrip strength endurance task, and a 3-min Flanker task was performed before and after the mentally fatiguing task. Physiological and perceptual responses were measured throughout the protocol. RESULTS: Handgrip strength endurance was higher in CR compared with PLAC (P = 0.022). MF impaired visuomotor response time (+4.4%; P = 0.022) and Flanker accuracy (-5.0%; P = 0.009) in both conditions. Accuracy on the Stroop task was higher in CR compared with PLAC (+4.9%; P = 0.026). Within the perceptual and physiological parameters, only motivation and vigor (P ≤ 0.027) were lower in CR compared with PLAC. CONCLUSION: Creatine supplementation improved physical (strength endurance) and prolonged cognitive (Stroop accuracy) performance, yet it did not combat MF-induced impairments in short sport-specific psychomotor or cognitive (Flanker) performance. These results warrant further investigation in the potential role of creatine in combating the MF-associated decrements in prolonged (e.g., 90-min soccer game) sport performance and suggest a role of brain phosphocreatine in MF.

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  • Creatine supplementation enhances cognitive function particularly in older populations.

    “enhance cognitive function particularly in older populations [3,27,28,69,94,127,131,159,163,164,165,166,167,168];”

    From Creatine in health and disease (2021) · cites this paper as [27]

  • Creatine supplementation attenuates mental fatigue and/or can improve cognition, executive function, and/or memory.

    “Several studies have found that creatine supplementation attenuates mental fatigue [27,28,127] and/or can improve cognition, executive function, and/or memory [28,94,127,168,177,179].”

    From Creatine in health and disease (2021) · cites this paper as [27]

  • Our negative finding for the Stroop task is in line with two studies and in contrast with one study which found a creatine effect for this task.

    “Our negative finding for the Stroop task, a test of inhibition, is again in line with the same two studies [21, 61] and in contrast with one study which found a creatine effect for this task [57].”

    From The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive performance—a randomised controlled study (2023) · cites this paper as [57]

  • A number of other studies with omnivore participants or unspecified and presumably omnivore participants also found a large creatine effect.

    “Under the same conditions, a number of other studies with omnivore participants [52–55] or unspecified and presumably omnivore participants [56–58] also found a large creatine effect”

    From The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive performance—a randomised controlled study (2023) · cites this paper as [57]

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Authors
VAN CUTSEM, J., ROELANDS, B., PLUYM, B., TASSIGNON, B., VERSCHUEREN, J., DE PAUW, K., & MEEUSEN, R.
Affiliations
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)
ORCID
Venue
Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Published
2020-01
Volume
52
Issue
1
Pages
120-130
ISSN
  • 0195-9131 (ISSN-L)
  • 1530-0315
DOI
10.1249/mss.0000000000002122
OpenAlex
W2967678854
Cited by
86
References
43
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1
FWCI
5.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Biochemical effects in animals
Keywords
creatine supplementation, mental fatigue, visuomotor performance, psychomotor skills, Stroop task, flanker task, cognitive performance, phosphocreatine
MeSH terms
Adult, Cognition, Creatine, Double-Blind Method, Exercise Test, Mental Fatigue, Female, Humans, Male, Motivation, Motor Skills, Physical Endurance, Task Performance and Analysis, Cross-Over Studies, Hand Strength, Dietary Supplements, Young Adult, Stroop Test

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