Self-Control Strength and Mindfulness in Physical Exercise Performance: Does a Short Mindfulness Induction Compensate for the Detrimental Ego Depletion Effect?

Stocker, Eva; Englert, Christoph; Seiler, Roland (2018). Self-Control Strength and Mindfulness in Physical Exercise Performance: Does a Short Mindfulness Induction Compensate for the Detrimental Ego Depletion Effect? Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 31(3), pp. 324-339. Taylor & Francis 10.1080/10413200.2018.1471754

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To meet specific goals, athletes frequently have to deal with several demands that may
deplete their limited self-control resources, which may in turn negatively affect their
subsequent performance in a wide variety of sports-related tasks (e.g., coordinative,
psychological, and physical tasks). Mindfulness meditation may be beneficial for
mechanisms involved during self-control exertion, because it supports efficient emotion
regulation, attention regulation, and executive functioning. In our study, we investigated
the effects of a short mindfulness exercise on physical performance in a state
with temporarily depleted self-control strength (ego depletion). We applied a mixed
between- (ego depletion: yes vs. no) and within- (two times of measurement, 7 days
apart; mindfulness: yes vs. no; order counterbalanced) subjects design to test our
hypothesis in a sample of 34 sport students. Ego depletion was manipulated via a
well-established transcription task. For the manipulation of mindfulness, participants
performed a 4-min mindfulness exercise via audio in the mindfulness condition and
listened to an audiobook in the control condition. As a dependent variable, participants
performed a previously validated strenuous physical exercise (plank exercise) for as
long as possible, and we measured the relative difference between the baseline measurement
and the second trial. We found no interaction effect, meaning that a short
mindfulness exercise was not able to compensate for the detrimental ego depletion
effect. In future studies, potential mechanisms should be assessed to reveal the ego
depletion effect on physical exercise performance.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Sport Science (ISPW)
07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Education > Educational Psychology
07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Sport Science (ISPW) > Sport Science II [discontinued]

UniBE Contributor:

Stocker, Eva, Englert, Christoph, Seiler, Roland

Subjects:

700 Arts > 790 Sports, games & entertainment
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 370 Education

ISSN:

1041-3200

Publisher:

Taylor & Francis

Funders:

[UNSPECIFIED] Institute of Sport Science ; [UNSPECIFIED] Institute of Education

Language:

English

Submitter:

Eva Stocker

Date Deposited:

05 Mar 2019 11:14

Last Modified:

02 Mar 2023 23:31

Publisher DOI:

10.1080/10413200.2018.1471754

Related URLs:

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.127408

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/127408

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