The Effect of Ego-Depletion on Decision Making under Distraction Conditions in Skilled Female Football Players

This study aimed to investigate ego-depletion, attention control, and decision-making in proficient female soccer players. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design with an applied objective, the research was conducted intra-group using a pre-test-post-test methodology. The statistical population comprised proficient female footballers who competed in the Premier League of Tehran Province. This study involved forty proficient female football players, with an average age of 23.09+2.03 years, who had at least eight years of competition experience. The samples were arbitrarily divided into two groups—ego-depletion and non-ego-depletion—using convenience sampling. The data were collected using the personal information questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire, Stroop, and the Decision-making tool. The ego-depletion group’s self-control strength was diminished in two cycles of eighty trials through the prior task, which was the Stroop inconsistent task. They executed a computer-based decision-making task under distracting conditions, which comprised 180 images depicting various football scenarios. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS-21 software and a mixed ANOVA with the SYNTAX command. The results showed that the ego-depletion group made decisions with significantly slower speeds and reduced accuracy (P<0.001). In contrast, the non-ego-depletion group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in accuracy (P=0.003) but a considerable decline in decision speed (P<0.001). Overall, one could contend that mental fatigue-induced ego depletion undermined the capacity for self-control, which consequently compromised the decision-making abilities of the participants.