Hi Darias and colleagues. I have reviewed your manuscript for a podcast episode we are hoping to record and annotated my thoughts on the submission in the hope that some may be of use. You should note that I'm not a physiologist and part of the point of my reviewing the work is as an educated outsider who isn't overly familiar with the topic. As such, some of the comments may be nonsense! Anyway, I hope they are of some use!
31 Matching Annotations
- Jul 2018
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osf.io osf.io
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The oddball task was chosen to test the hypothesis of whether tramadol may impair cognitive function during cycling.
I'd stick to information processing here personally.
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brain dynamics
This needs explaining as it's the first time it is brought up
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n the Oddball task, there werenosignificant differences between conditionsfor the target1, target2 or standard stimuli, for RT and accuracy (all ps> 0.05)
Relating back to the hypotheses would be useful throughout the results.
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The main effect of conditiondid not reach statistical significance
Are you sure you want to frame this result in this way?
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(p > 0.05). Finally, the cognitive load of the session was not significantly different between conditions (p > 0.05).
Reporting the p-value would be useful here. You're a little inconsistent in the way you report p > .05 (see five lines up).
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he anger index
These all feel like they should have been introduced earlier on as this is the first time I recall seeing them discussed. Be careful not to HARK though.
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false discovery rate metho
A citation here would be useful.
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within-participantsexperimentalconditions
You still want to know that their responses were internally consistent though, right?
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he lack of reliability may suppose a limitationin the present investigation, but,generally, oddball tasks show an interclass correlation coefficient higher than 0.7517, and the VAS a Cronbach alpha higher than 0.90,showing high test-retest reliability 18,
You don't say why. Also, what does Chronbach's Alpha have to do with test-retest reliability? The phrasing here could be tweaked to clarify these points.
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For each stimulus, the RT (in ms) and response accuracy (percentage of correct responses) were recorded
Has this not been used for research before as there is no citation?
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An oddball taskwas designed to measure sustained attention by the random presentation of a sequence of visual stimuli on a computer screen situated at 100 cm from the participants’ head and at their eye level
Should be earlier too. I'm sure you haven't, but this kind of implies you've switched the studies around in the way that they're being reported.
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VAS
Same here. There should be a level of consistency in the way you report each measure.
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We used the Spanish adapted version of the POMS 16,which has been used extensively for the assessment of mood in the sport and exercise environments. This questionnaire has 58 items and the factor structure representing six dimensions of the mood construct: Tension, Depression, Anger, Vigour, Fatigue and Confusion. Participants answered the items on a 5-point Likert scale (0 = not at all, 1 = a little, 2 = moderately, 3 = quite a bit, 4 = extremely). Raw scores were transformed following the standard point table 16.
Is this different to study 1? If it is different then I would expected similar detail for the measure used in study 1. If it is the same then you need this earlier and just a note to state that it's the same measure here.
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100 mg
Why a set amount in study 2?
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oddball paradigm
I'm a psychologist and haven't heard of this? Also, was this discussed in the methods?
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time-trialparticipants were asked to rate their average perceived exertion during the preceding exercise.
How do you handle observer-expectancy effects here?
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Participants were aware of the elapsed time, but did not havefeedback on performance (wattageand heart rate) during,or after the time-trial
Same.
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Participants were instructed to maintain the highest average powerpossibleduring the time-trialand were freely able to change gearingand cadence throughout
What are the pros and cons to this?
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The experimental sessions were completed at the same time of the day (±1 h).
When were the tests conducted and does time of day have a bearing?
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Profile of Mood States Questionnaire (POMS), and a visual analogue scale (VAS) concerning perceived activation, mental and physical fatigue.
I'd expect to see example items, the number of items, prior evidence of internal consistency, and citations reported here as minimum.
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ramadol dose corresponded to1.35 mg/BM, with a dose of 1.77 mg/BMgiven to females.
Why?
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he sample sizes were based on power calculations using G*Power Software 13and assuming a0.8 power and an alpha error of0.05.
I think the estimated sample size should be reported here.
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20 males and 10 females
Why the uneven split?
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drinking alcohol (48 h abstinence) and caffeine (24 h abstinence), to keep their pre-exercise meal the same, and not to perform any exhaustive exercise in the 48 h before each experimental visit
What checks are done to identify adherence to these criteria?
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we also investigated subjective measures ofthe participants’ mood,perceived effort and mental fatigue.
Given the issues around drowsiness raised, I thought you were heading towards some kind of decision making task. I'm sure you've considered this already, but it could be interesting.
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20-min cycling time-trialperformance
For me, the introduction doesn't lead to this question.
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whether it reducessustained attention
Why this variable in particular? I think as stronger rationale for why this is focused on could be made in the introduction.
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71 to 82 percent of the tramadol use between 2012 and 2015 in globally monitored sports occurred in cycling
Is there any reason why cyclists in particular may be interested in abusing tramadol?
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nhancement reasons
(e.g., ...).
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nalgesic d
It would be good to offer a definition here.
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