New publication: Collaboration between Training and Movement Science and Sport Psychology
Meta-analysis on the effect of prior mental exertion on subsequent physical performance.
Louis-Solal Giboin (with the Chair of Training and Movement Science) and Wanja Wolff (with the Chair of Sport Psychology) published a meta-analysis in the journal Performance Enhancement & Health called "The effect of ego depletion or mental fatigue on subsequent physical endurance performance: A meta-analysis". This meta-analysis is the first that aggregates studies from both the ego depletion and the mental fatigue fields. In line with both theories’ predictions, prior mental exertion impairs subsequent performance. However, very surprisingly, the duration of prior mental effort had no influence on the magnitude of performance impairment in the subsequent physical task. If this is indeed the case, this finding provides an interesting riddle for existing theories.
Abstract:
Two independent lines of research propose that exertion of mental effort can impair subsequent performance due to ego depletion or mental fatigue. In this meta-analysis, we unite these research fields to facilitate a greater exchange between the two, to summarize the extant literature and to highlight open questions.
We performed a meta-analysis to quantify the effect of ego-depletion and mental fatigue on subsequent physical endurance performance (42 independent effect sizes).
We found that ego-depletion or mental fatigue leads to a reduction in subsequent physical endurance performance (ES = -0.506 [95% CI: -0.649, -0.369]) and that the duration of prior mental effort exertion did not predict the magnitude of subsequent performance impairment (r = -0.043). Further, analyses revealed that effects of prior mental exertion are more pronounced in subsequent tasks that use isolation tasks (e.g., handgrip; ES = -0.719 [-0.946, -0.493]) compared to whole-body endurance tasks (e.g. cycling; coefficient = 0.338 [0.057, 0.621]) and that the observed reduction in performance is higher when the person-situation fit is low (ES for high person-situation fit = -0.355 [-0.529, -0.181], coefficient for low person-situation fit = -0.336 [-0.599, -0.073]).
Taken together, the aggregate of the published literature on ego depletion or mental fatigue indicates that prior mental exertion is detrimental to subsequent physical endurance performance. However, this analysis also highlights several open questions regarding the effects’ mechanisms and moderators. Particularly, the surprising finding that the duration of prior mental exertion seems to be unrelated to subsequent performance impairment needs to be addressed systematically.
Link to the publication:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211266919300209