The influence of viewing environmental pictures in-between physical tasks on football-relevant performance outcomes

This study induced cognitive load in a sport-specific context. The aim was to investigate whether interacting with nature during a half-time break would lead to superior football performance due to replenishment of mental abilities compared to viewing urban environments. In a matched-pairs design, 20 volunteers from a local football club took part in the study. In-between two blocks of small-sided games, players were exposed to a 10-min-PowerPoint-presentation showing either nature pictures or urban pictures. Technical scores, perceived exertion levels, heart rates, mental effort, mental fatigue and motivation towards the games were assessed before and after the environmental interactions. There were no significant differences between the groups from pre- to post-intervention. In contrast to the nature team, urban players were more mentally fatigued after the first game block (mean ranks of 6.75 and 13.61, respectively; P = 0.008), and overall less motivated (5.76 ± 2.30 cm and 4.19 ± 1.68 cm, respectively; P = 0.040, partial η ²= 0.226). It seems the football games did not impose enough mental load on each player, highlighting the need for investigation using sport-relevant cognitive tasks. Future studies should specifically assess attentional fatigue and should further investigate the impact of environmental exposures on athletic performance.