A 5-Minute Rest Period Weakens the Phenomenon of History Dependence of Freely Chosen Pedalling Cadence and Entails a Borderland Observation

Background: It was recently reported that the freely chosen cadence at the end of a bout of pedalling depended on relatively high and low preset cadences applied at the beginning of the bout. This was denoted as a phenomenon of motor behavioural history dependence. Objective: The present study aimed at expanding that recent finding by testing whether the described history dependence occurred if 5-min rest was incorporated between the initial pedalling at preset cadence and the final pedalling at freely chosen cadence. Methods: Twenty-six participants performed three separate sequences of submaximal ergometer pedalling. In sequence A, pedalling at 50 rpm was followed by 5-min rest and pedalling at freely chosen cadence. In sequence B, pedalling at 90 rpm was followed by 5-min rest and pedalling at freely chosen cadence. In sequence C (denoted reference), the cadence was freely chosen throughout all pedalling. Behavioural (cadence), biomechanical (tangential pedal force), and physiological (heart rate) responses were measured. Results: Initial pedalling at 90 rpm caused the subsequent freely chosen cadence (74.5 ± 3.3 rpm) to be about 6% higher (p = 0.001) than the reference freely chosen cadence at the end of sequence C (70.8 ± 3.2 rpm). A similar difference did not occur between sequences A and C. Conclusions: These divergent findings, combined with previous reports of clear history dependence in pedalling sequences (performed similarly to here, only without incorporated rest periods), overall suggest that the present observations reflected a borderland of motor behavioural history dependence. Further, the 5-min incorporated rest apparently weakened the history dependence phenomenon.