Aging brings about a marked increase in the likelihood of becoming tired, or tiring faster during activities that require mental effort. This phenomenon is called Central Fatigability (CF). CF can occur in almost any older adult, and is distinct from fatigue symptoms that often occur in individuals with certain neurologic or cardiac diseases, sleep disorders, or depression. CF has many adverse consequences, including cognitive decline, degraded performance in daily tasks (e.g., driving), reduced participation in intellectually beneficial activities (e.g., learning a new language or music instrument), poor quality of life, and mobility restriction.

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In a recent study, we proposed novel laboratory tasks that could efficiently induce and capture CF (i.e. CF-manipulation tasks) in older adults, which we aim to use in later development and assessment of efficient strategies that mitigate CF.