Ego depletion and attention regulation under pressure: is a temporary loss of self-control strength indeed related to impaired attention regulation?

In the current study we investigated whether ego depletion negatively affects attention regulation under pressure in sports by assessing participants' dart throwing performance and accompanying gaze behavior. According to the strength model of self-control, the most important aspect of self-control is attention regulation. Because higher levels of state anxiety are associated with impaired attention regulation, we chose a mixed design with ego depletion (yes vs. no) as between-subjects and anxiety level (high vs. low) as within-subjects factor. Participants performed a perceptual-motor task requiring selective attention, namely, dart throwing. In line with our expectations, depleted participants in the high-anxiety condition performed worse and displayed a shorter final fixation on bull's eye, demonstrating that when one's self-control strength is depleted, attention regulation under pressure cannot be maintained. This is the first study that directly supports the general assumption that ego depletion is a major factor in influencing attention regulation under pressure.

The effect of ego depletion on sprint start reaction time.

In the current study, we consider that optimal sprint start performance requires the self-control of responses. Therefore, start performance should depend on athletes' self-control strength. We assumed that momentary depletion of self-control strength (ego depletion) would either speed up or slow down the initiation of a sprint start, where an initiation that was sped up would carry the increased risk of a false start. Applying a mixed between- (depletion vs. nondepletion) and within- (before vs. after manipulation of depletion) subjects design, we tested the start reaction times of 37 sport students. We found that participants' start reaction times decelerated after finishing a depleting task, whereas it remained constant in the nondepletion condition. These results indicate that sprint start performance can be impaired by unrelated preceding actions that lower momentary self-control strength. We discuss practical implications in terms of optimizing sprint starts and related overall sprint performance.

Anxiety, ego depletion, and sports performance.

In the present article, we analyzed the role of self-control strength and state anxiety in sports performance. We tested the hypothesis that self-control strength and state anxiety interact in predicting sports performance on the basis of two studies, each using a different sports task (Study 1: performance in a basketball free throw task, N = 64; Study 2: performance in a dart task, N = 79). The patterns of results were as expected in both studies: Participants with depleted self-control strength performed worse in the specific tasks as their anxiety increased, whereas there was no significant relation for participants with fully available self-control strength. Furthermore, different degrees of available self-control strength did not predict performance in participants who were low in state anxiety, but did in participants who were high in state anxiety. Thus increasing self-control strength could reduce the negative anxiety effects in sports and improve athletes' performance under pressure.

From autistic pragmatic language problems to a negative attitude toward human nature-a serial multiple mediation model.

It has recently been found that individuals high in autistic traits tend to believe that they are usually not treated fairly. In the present study, it is assumed that such a lowered personal belief in a just world is based on cumulative humiliation experiences that stem from autistic pragmatic language problems (e.g., communicating in a monotonous voice, not being "in tune" with others during conversations). Furthermore, the less individuals believe that they receive fair treatment, the more they may develop a negative attitude toward human nature (i.e., believing that humans are generally untrustworthy, unfair, and unhelpful). The serial multiple mediation model reflecting these assumptions received initial empirical support in a nonclinical sample (N = 344). Implications for professional health care are addressed.

Self-Control Capacity Moderates the Effect of Stereotype Threat on Female University Students' Worry During a Math Performance Situation.

Stereotype threat is a possible reason for difficulties faced by girls and women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The threat experienced due to gender can cause elevated worry during performance situations. That is, if the stereotype that women are not as good as men in math becomes salient, this stereotype activation draws women's attention to task-irrelevant worry caused by the fear of conforming to the negative stereotype. Increased worry can reduce cognitive resources, potentially leading to performance decrements. We argue that such worry is more pronounced immediately after an unrelated self-control demand, which is assumed to temporarily decrease people's self-control exertion over their attention and stream of thought (i.e., relatively low self-control capacity). This prediction was examined in an experiment conducted with 102 participating university students enrolled in courses in which math plays a crucial role. After the manipulation of self-control capacity (low vs. high), stereotype threat was induced for the female students, but not the male students. Then, the students were asked to report their thoughts during a math performance situation (i.e., written thought protocols) three times. Multiple-group autoregressive path models revealed that when self-control capacity was relatively low, female compared with male students reported more intense worry in the initial two thought protocols. In contrast, in the relatively high self-control capacity condition, female and male students did not differ significantly in their reported worry at any time. These results expand on previous findings, suggesting that threat effects depend on definable situational self-control conditions.

Less Illusion of a Just World in People with Formally Diagnosed Autism and Higher Autistic Traits.

People differ in how strongly they believe that, in general, one gets what (s)he deserves (i.e., individual differences in the general belief in a just world). In this study (N = 588; n = 60 with a formal autism diagnosis), whether or not autistic people and those with high autistic traits have a relatively low general belief in a just world is examined. The results revealed the expected relationship between autism/higher autistic traits and a lower general belief in a just world. In a subsample (n = 388), personal belief in a just world, external locus of control, and self-deception mediated this relationship. These findings are discussed in terms of autistic strengths (less biased information processing) and problems (lowered well-being).

The Cognitive Association Between Effortful Self-Control and Decreased Vitality.

According to the schema model of self-control, individuals' self-control efforts activate the fatigue/decreased vitality schema. A precondition for this schema activation is that the cognitive concepts of self-control effort and decreased vitality are associated in individuals' minds. In the present two studies, the existence of such a cognitive association was tested. In Study 1, 133 school students from Switzerland read two similar stories in a random order. In one story, a fictitious individual engaged in effortful self-control, while in the other story, he/she did not. In Study 2, 251 online workers from the United States, per random assignment, received either a story describing an individual exerting self-control or a similar story describing an individual not exerting self-control. In both studies, the participants rated how vital the fictitious individuals felt at the time the story ended. As expected, in both studies, the fictitious individual exerting self-control was rated as feeling less vital compared to the one not exerting self-control. This finding is in line with the schema model of self-control, as it indicates that the concepts of self-control exertion and decreased vitality are related to each other in a cognitive associative structure. Additional results suggest that emotional valence and calmness are irrelevant in this association. Moreover, the self-control exertion-decreased vitality association was independent from the raters' own momentary feelings of self-control exertion, effort, and exhaustion.

Perceived Self-Control Effort, Subjective Vitality, and General Affect in an Associative Structure.

A crucial assumption of the recently developed schema model of self-control is that people's perceived self-control efforts are related to the experience of lowered subjective vitality. In the present study, this assumption was tested. It was also examined whether perceived self-control effort is related to a diffuse affective experience (i.e., subjective vitality, general positive affect, and general negative affect as a combined factor) or is discretely related to subjective vitality, general positive affect, and general negative affect. Based on the previous literature, it was expected that the latter would better fit the data. In a survey study, university students (N = 501) completed standardized measures of their perceived self-control effort, subjective vitality, general positive affect, and general negative affect with regard to a specific frame of reference (i.e., during the current day and the last 2 days). Bivariate correlations and confirmatory factor analyses revealed the expected relationships, meaning that perceived self-control effort was negatively related to subjective vitality and that the statistical model with three distinct affective variables fit the data better than the model with subjective vitality, positive affect, and negative affect incorporated into one common factor. It was concluded that the findings are in line with the schema model of self-control.

Autistic Traits Predict Social-Contact Uncertainty in University Students.

Social anxiety (alternatively: social-contact uncertainty) in the university context can lead to reduced health, well-being, and performance, and can even cause premature leaving of education. With the present study, we intended to supplement cross-sectional studies on students' autistic traits and social anxiety with longitudinal findings. We measured autistic traits and social-contact uncertainty of 118 university students on two occasions, roughly 1 year apart. Correlation, multiple regression, and cross-lagged analyses showed that more pronounced autistic traits predicted higher future social-contact uncertainty. Social-contact uncertainty did not predict autistic traits. We conclude that university students who are high in autistic traits tend not only to be more socially anxious at the moment but have a heightened risk of still being so in the future.

A Personality Trait-Based Network of Boredom, Spontaneous and Deliberate Mind-Wandering.

This article reports the translation into German and validation of two self-report measures of mind-wandering and boredom (the Spontaneous and Deliberate Mind-Wandering Scales and the Short Boredom Proneness Scale). Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the original conceptualization of the constructs. To evaluate measurement invariance across samples, data were collected in a German-speaking sample (n = 418) and an English-speaking sample (n = 364). The results indicated weak measurement invariance. To explore the interplay between mind-wandering and boredom, we performed an exploratory graph analysis in the entire sample (N = 782), which revealed the structure of relationships between boredom and the two facets of mind-wandering. The results are discussed in the context of theoretical accounts of boredom and mind-wandering.

Test Anxiety in Autistic University Students-Preliminary Results from a German-Speaking Sample.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition associated with increased levels of anxiety. However, whether autism is related to heightened test anxiety as one situation-specific type of anxiety has not yet been examined. This question may be relevant for the achievement and well-being of autistic people in educational settings (e.g., at universities). In this study, we took a first step to investigate whether autistic university students have increased test anxiety. A sample of 16 German-speaking university students completed an established diagnostic instrument to measure test anxiety and its components of worry, emotionality, cognitive interference, and lack of confidence. The scores of the autistic students were compared with the test anxiety means and percentile ranks of the standardization sample for the applied test anxiety measure (n = 1350). For an additional comparison, the test anxiety means and percentile ranks of non-autistic university students (n = 101) were assessed during the last third of the semester; that is, close to the examinations. Overall, the results suggest that autistic university students have remarkably increased test anxiety. Although the present findings must be considered preliminary, they suggest that text anxiety in educational settings may be a neglected significant problem for autistic people that requires further attention in research and practice.

Measuring Motivation for Cognitive Effort as State.

People's motivation to engage in cognitive effort is a variable which is relevant in different psychological domains (e.g., social cognition research). Despite its potential benefits, a psychometrically sound state measure of cognitive motivation is still lacking. We therefore developed the 10-item motivation for cognition (MFC) state scale based on the established conceptualization and measure of trait need for cognition (NFC). In two studies, we examined the psychometric properties of the new measure. Study 1 revealed that the MFC scale reliably measures a one-dimensional construct. Moreover, the MFC scale was related to NFC and choice of task effort in an expected manner. In Study 2, relationships with NFC, achievement motives, self-control capacity, subjective vitality, momentary affect, and choice of task effort provide further preliminary support for the MFC scale as being a valid measure of momentary cognitive motivation. We discuss the utility of the new scale in psychological research and practice.

A Schema-Activation Approach to Failure and Success in Self-Control.

Numerous studies confirm the so-called ego depletion effect (i.e., self-control is impaired after an initial unrelated self-control task). During recent years, the criticism on this limited-resource approach to willpower has increased, and alternative models have been developed. I argue that the existing models cannot explain the variety of results found in the ego depletion literature and introduce the schema model of self-control. Referring to related schema conceptions (i.e., illness schemas and emotion schemas), I posit that the processes that cause ego depletion effects occur around the activation of the fatigue/decreased vitality schema. This schema becomes activated via the registration of behavioral and physiological changes related to exercising self-control. The activation of the schema should instigate the motivation to conserve energy and, therefore, cause reduced effort and decreased performance in a subsequent self-control task. Moderator variables (e.g., energy supply) should influence the (non)activation of the fatigue/decreased vitality schema or its consequences.

Speeded reasoning moderates the inverse relationship between autistic traits and emotion recognition.

LAY ABSTRACT: Autistic people typically have difficulty recognizing other people's emotions and to process nonverbal cues in an automatic, intuitive fashion. This usually also applies to people who-regardless of an official diagnosis of autism-achieve high values in autism questionnaires. However, some autistic people do not seem to have any problems with emotion recognition. One explanation may be that these individuals are able to compensate for their lack of intuitive or automatic processing through a quick conscious and deliberate analysis of the emotional cues in faces, voices, and body movements. On these grounds, we assumed that the higher autistic people's ability to reason quickly (i.e. to make quick logical inferences), the fewer problems they should have with determining other people's emotions. In our study, we asked workers on the crowdsourcing marketplace MTurk to complete a questionnaire about their autistic traits, to perform emotion recognition tests, and to complete a test of the ability to reason under time constraints. In our sample of 217 people, we found the expected pattern. Overall, those who had higher values in the autism questionnaire scored lower in the emotion recognition tests. However, when reasoning ability was taken into account, a more nuanced picture emerged: participants with high values both on the autism questionnaire and on the reasoning test recognized emotions as well as individuals with low autistic traits. Our results suggest that fast analytic information processing may help autistic people to compensate problems in recognizing others' emotions.

Preliminary Indications That First Semester Students From Academic Households Exhibit Higher Hair Cortisol Concentrations Than Their Peers From Nonacademic Households.

Previous research has extensively addressed social disparity in education using certain aspects, including the stress differences between students from nonacademic families and those from academic families during the transition from secondary school to a university. However, this issue has not yet been fully understood; the current literature suggests contradictory predictions, and physiological indicators of stress have never been assessed. Therefore, we tested whether hair cortisol concentrations (HCCs) in first semester students from nonacademic families are different from those of first semester students from academic families during their first six weeks at university. We analyzed hair samples and parental educational background reports from 71 female first semester students at a university in Switzerland in two waves (n = 34 in the autumn of 2016 and n = 37 in the autumn of 2017). The HCCs were extracted from the hair using a well-established protocol. The analyses revealed higher HCCs in the students from the academic families across the two cohorts. This difference could not be attributed to different control variables (e.g., age, migration background). These preliminary findings were in line with the sociological theory that an academic parental background is associated with pressure to avoid a drop in one's social status.

Creative Flexibility Performance Is Neither Related to Anxiety, Nor to Self-Control Strength, Nor to Their Interaction.

Previous research has reliably found that self-control strength moderates the anxiety-performance relationship for cognitive and perceptual-motor tasks that involve executive functioning. In the present preregistered experiment (N = 200; https://aspredicted.org/a775h.pdf), we investigated whether the interaction of anxiety and self-control also predicts creative flexibility performance. According to the Attentional Control Theory, anxiety can impair executive functioning. In the case that creative flexibility relies on executive functions, anxiety should therefore interfere with creative flexibility performance. However, self-control strength has been demonstrated to serve as a buffer against the negative effects of anxiety on executive functioning. Therefore, we assumed that there will be a negative relationship between anxiety and creative flexibility performance, and that this negative relationship would be more pronounced for participants who are low compared to high in momentary self-control strength. Analogous to the previous studies, we manipulated the participants' self-control strength (ego depletion vs. no depletion) and subsequently induced a potentially threatening test situation. The participants then completed a measure of their state anxiety and a standardized test of creative flexibility. Contrary to our expectation, self-control strength, state anxiety, and their interaction did not predict creative flexibility performance. Complementary Bayesian hypothesis testing revealed strong support for the null hypothesis. Therefore, we conclude that, at least under certain conditions, creative flexibility performance may be unrelated to resource-dependent executive functions.

Is Learning With Elaborative Interrogation Less Desirable When Learners Are Depleted?

When learning with elaborative interrogation, learners are requested by means of prompts to generate parts of the study material. There is evidence, that learning with elaborative interrogation is beneficial. However, it is conceivable that for elaborative interrogation to be beneficial for learning, learners also need resources available to be able to correctly generate parts of the study material. In this connection, one potentially important factor for successfully carrying out such effortful analytic processes, like generating information, is cognitive self-control. However, self-control seems to be a limited resource that can be depleted. Hence, under conditions of depleted self-regulatory resources (ego depletion), elaborative interrogation might lead to an incomplete generation of the requested information, resulting in incomplete study material. Thus, elaborative interrogation may be only beneficial under nondepleted conditions, but disadvantageous under depleted conditions. To investigate this, 97 persons were randomly assigned to one of four conditions resulting from a 2 × 2 between-subjects design with the independent variables ego depletion (yes vs. no) and learning condition (elaborative interrogation vs. control). Ego depletion was manipulated with a writing task: Participants were instructed to transcribe a text on a blank sheet, but only participants in the depletion condition were instructed to omit the letters e and n wherever they would normally appear in their writing. For the elaborative interrogation condition, some segments of the regular text were removed and prompts asking for that particular information were provided. For the control condition, the regular text was provided while no prompts were given. The main dependent variables were the learning outcome measures of a retention test and a transfer test. 2 × 2-ANCOVAs showed no effects of ego depletion, no effects of learning condition and no interaction between ego depletion and learning condition - neither for retention nor for transfer. The concept of ego depletion is recently discussed controversy and these results do contribute to the skeptical view that queries the impact of the concept of ego depletion - at least for cognitive tasks. Moreover, these results question whether elaborative interrogation are also desirable when assessing learning outcomes by means of retention and transfer tests.

Trait Self-Control Discriminates Between Youth Football Players Selected and Not Selected for the German Talent Program: A Bayesian Analysis.

Trait self-control predicts success in various walks of life. Sports is a prototypical domain, where self-control is required, and there is evidence that successful athletes display superior self-control. Here, we assess if self-control already differs between athletes that were selected for a talent development program and non-selected athletes. Self-reported trait self-control was assessed in n = 25 (7 = female, 13.2 ± 1.7 years) youth football players who were part of the German talent development program and in n = 27 (6 = female, 13.6 ± 1.8 years) age and sex matched youth football players, who trained at the same clubs but had not been selected for the program. A one-sided Bayesian two-sample t-test yielded a Bayes factor of 54.99, indicating very strong evidence for the hypothesis that elite youth football players have higher trait self-control than non-elite youth football players. The 95% credibility interval indicates that the true value of δ lies between 0.28 and 1.42, indicating some uncertainty regarding the effects' magnitude. We show that already at young age, elite athletes display higher levels of self-control than their less successful peers. This underlines the importance of self-control as an important personality factor for success. These findings might have implications for talent selection and for sport psychological training.

Testing the validity of the attention control video: An eye-tracking approach of the ego depletion effect.

The attention control video has been frequently applied to test the ego depletion effect. However, its validity has never been tested, a shortcoming we address in this preregistered study. In the first task, self-control strength was temporarily depleted in the depletion condition (n = 56) but remained intact in the control condition (n = 56). The attention control video served as the secondary task, and we assumed that the depletion condition would perform significantly worse compared to the control condition. Attention regulation was measured with an eye-tracking device. The results revealed that the gaze behavior in the two conditions differed statistically significantly; however, the actual difference was small, indicating that the attention control video may not be an optimal measure of self-control.

Too Exhausted to Perform at the Highest Level? On the Importance of Self-control Strength in Educational Settings.

In order to perform at the highest level in educational settings (e.g., students in testing situations), individuals often have to control their impulses or desires (e.g., to study for an upcoming test or to prepare a course instead of spending time with the peer group). Previous research suggests that the ability to exert self-control is an important predictor of performance and behavior in educational contexts. According to the strength model, all self-control acts are based on one global energy pool whose capacity is assumed to be limited. After having performed a first act of self-control, this resource can become temporarily depleted which negatively affects subsequent self-control. In such a state of ego depletion, individuals tend to display impaired concentration and academic performance, fail to meet academic deadlines, or even disengage from their duties. In this mini-review, we report recent studies on ego depletion which have focused on children as well as adults in educational settings, derive practical implications for how to improve self-control strength in the realm of education and instruction, and discuss limitations regarding the assumptions of the strength model of self-control.