TABLE 1.

Overview of cognitive strategies used in the literature as intervention to improve performance decrements from prolonged cognitive activity.

Intervention		Authors	Study design	N	Self-control task	Finding
Break and time of day	5 min break with stretching at 2 separate intervals	Galinsky et al.,2007	Field study (data-entry workers).	51	Data entry.	Improvement in speed without loss of productivity.
	Five short breaks spaced hourly over 6 h flight	Neri et al.,2002	Field study (a simulated flight study with a crew).	14	Objective vigilance. Subjective vigilance. Physiological measure (EEG/EOG).	No improvement. Improvement. Improvement in the rate of unintended sleep episodes, theta-band activity (associated with working memory), and slow eye movement.
	10 min break with relaxing music	Tyler and Burns,2008	Experimental.	41	Stroop task.	Improvement in speed and accuracy.
	5 min of mindfulness mediation	Friese et al.,2012	Experimental.	66	Test of attention.	Improvement.
	1st half of the day	Kouchaki and Smith,2014	Experimental.	337	Moral decision-making task.	Improvement.
Food and drinks	Ingesting glucose (sweetened drink)	McMahon and Scheel,2010	Experimental.	50	Probability-learning task.	Improvement.
		Masicampo and Baumeister,2008	Experimental.	121	Consumer decision task.	Improvement (with decrease in reliance on heuristic-based automatic reasoning).
		Owen et al.,2012	Experimental (double-blind, placebo controlled, six-way crossover study).	30	Word presentation. Immediate word recall. Serial threes (arithmetic). Serial sevens (arithmetic). Stroop task. Simple reaction time. Choice reaction time. Alertness (subjective report) Contentedness (subjective) Calmness (subjective)	Improvement. Improvement. Improvement. Improvement. No improvement. No improvement. Improvement. Improvement. No improvement. Improvement.
		Kennedy and Scholey,2000	Experimental (double-blind, placebo controlled, balanced crossover).	20	Serial sevens (arithmetic). Serial threes (arithmetic). Word retrieval.	Improvement. Improvement. Improvement.
		Scholey et al.,2001	Experimental (placebo controlled double-blind balanced crossover).	20	Serial Sevens (arithmetic). Word Fluency task. Word Recall task.	Improvement. Improvement. No improvement.
		Reay et al.,2006	Experimental (placebo controlled double-blind balanced crossover).	27	Serial Threes (arithmetic). Serial Sevens (arithmetic). Rapid visual information processing task. Participant report of mental fatigue (visual analog scale).	Improvement in total number of subtractions in both tasks. Improvement in accuracy. Improvement in subjective reports of fatigue.
	Caffeine (3 mg/kg body weight)	Tieges et al.,2004	Experimental (double-blind, placebo controlled, cross-over design).	15	Alternating runs task. Physiological measure (EEG)	Improvement in error rate and accuracy Increased ERN amplitude in ACC.
	Ingesting caffeine and glucose	Kennedy and Scholey,2004	Experimental (double-blind, placebo controlled, cross-over).	56	Serial Threes. Serial Sevens. Rapid Visual Information Processing Rating of mental fatigue.	No improvement. Improvement with caffeine only. Improvement with caffeine-glucose. Improvement with caffeine-glucose.
Reawards and motivation	Rinsing mouth with glucose (as a motivational strategy)	Hagger and Chatzisarantis,2013	Experimental (includes 5 replication studies).	183	Handgrip persistence. Figure-tracing. Problem-solving. Stroop. Counting.	Improvement. Improvement. Improvement. Improvement. Improvement.
		Molden et al.,2012	Experimental.	31	Stroop task.	Improvement.
		Sanders et al.,2012	Experimental (replication of Molden et al., 2012).	51	Stroop task.	Improvement.
	Monetary reward	Krebs et al.,2010	Experimental.	36	Stroop task.	Improvement.
	Monetary reward	Goto and Kusumi,2013	Experimental.	46	Handgrip persistence task.	Improvement.
	Altruistic motivation and positive belief about outcome	Muraven and Slessareva,2003	Experimental.	227	Puzzles and frustrating game.	Improvement in goal persistence in both tasks.
	Priming positive mood and rewards (e.g., by watching a comedy video, or receiving a surprise gift)	Yvo et al.,2014	Experimental.	160	Weight-lift persistence task.	Improvement in goal persistence.
		Tice et al.,2007	Experimental.	204	Tasting beverage. Frustrating Solvable task. Frustrating Unsolvable task. Handgrip persistence task.	Improvements in goal persistence.
Cognitive exercises	Mental imagery of a restorative activity, i.e., perspective-taking	Egan et al.,2012	Experimental.	190	Frustrating Unsolvable task. Handgrip persistence task.	Improvement in goal persistence in all tasks.
	Monitoring task performance against a set standard or criteria	Wan and Sternthal,2008	Experimental.	181	Frustrating Solvable task. Frustrating Unsolvable task.	Improvement in all tasks.
	Practicing logical reasoning with daily mental exercises using paper and pen workbook	Bertrams and Schmeichel,2013	Experimental.	49	Problem solving task (anagram).	Improvement anagram performance.
	Practicing self-control with daily internet-based training application based on Stroop task paradigm	Cranwell et al.,2014	Experimental.	62	Counting task. Handgrip persistence task.	Improvement in persistence and speed.