Performance stability in simultaneous tasks of pedalling and reaction time.

The purpose of the study was to examine the within-subject variability in heart rate, pedal rate, choice reaction time, and error rate during simultaneous tasks of cycling and reaction time. Students in physical education classes exercised a 10-min. submaximal cycloergometer test at a relative power output corresponding to 60% of their own maximal aerobic power, in a replication procedure. Concomitantly, the subjects performed a 2-choice reaction time task from Min. 3 of the exercise bout. No significant differences (p > .05) were found between the individual means in the tests for the diverse parameters. The total intraindividual variability averaged 1.3% for heart rate, 2.2% for pedal rate, and 13.3% for choice reaction time. Because wide within-subject variability was observed (from 7.7 to 16.7%), the reliability of choice reaction time was low. These data suggest that it is necessary to quantify more accurately the intraindividual differences of reaction time measures for the interpretation of exercise-changes in cognitive functioning.