Performance and functional state of the central nervous system in technical college students

Introduction: Secondary vocational education is associated with physical exertion, practical experience in the industry, equipment and machinery operation. Adaptation effectiveness and overall cognitive performance of students strongly depend on their functional state and level of functional capabilities.

Objective: To study characteristic features of the central nervous system functioning among technical college students, as well as their typical indicators of performance.

Materials and methods: The study was conducted in November and December 2022 involving 215 participants: 188 (54.90 %) male and 97 (45.10 %) female first to third-year technical college students (mean age = 17.50 ± 1.4 years). Functional capabilities of the central nervous system were assessed using express diagnostics of human functional state and performance by M.P. Moroz. The data were processed using Statistica 10.0. Normality of distribution was checked by the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test; median (Me) and quartiles (Q1–Q3) were calculated for each parameter. The significance (p) of intergroup differences was determined using the Mann–Whitney U-test.

Results: We found that in most students, the functional state of the central nervous system corresponded to a reduced level of performance. Among the respondents, 98.41 % had the functional level of the central nervous system within the range of reduced mental performance while in 1.62 % it was significantly lower. The indicator of functional capabilities was moderately reduced in 60.30 % of the participants, and 25.40 % showed a markedly reduced level of performance. Response stability was moderately reduced in 73.00 % of the students, while the remaining 13.00 % exhibited a significant decrease. We found no statistical differences in simple visual-motor response indicators between the groups of male and female respondents.

Conclusions: The functional state of the central nervous system of technical college students is characterized by pronounced neuropsychic tension, decreased performance, increased fatigue, as well as reduced attention and decreased concentration.

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