Myers, Larry (2017) Does the behavioural inhibition within the letter-crossing task result in ego-depletion? Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
The limited-strength model of self-regulation argues that overriding automatic responses consumes energy from a limited resource pool. Consequently, repeated attempts at selfregulating leads to self-regulatory failure because there are not enough resources remaining to overcome any automatic response; this is known as the ego-depletion effect. Frequently, the letter-crossing task is used to induce the ego-depletion effect. Researchers assert that this task consumes self-regulatory resources and induces an ego-depletion effect by first having participants establish a habit (e.g., circle every e with a vowel next to it) and then override this habitual response (e.g., refrain from circling if there is an i next to the e). However, little research has been conducted to demonstrably justify that this process produces ego-depletion. Although previous experiments have shown a decline in performance within the lettercrossing task that is in line with a depleting self-regulatory resource pool, this experiment aims to reduce the causal explanation for this decline to the habit-forming and habit overriding behaviours thought to be necessary for the effect. To do this, the current study tracked the performance of three groups as they completed a letter-crossing task. The first group followed one rule and did not require any behavioural inhibition. The second group also did not require any behavioural inhibition but did follow multiple rules. Finally, the third group implemented the standard depletion protocol with rules that required behavioural inhibition and was solely expected to produce an ego-depletion effect. Additionally, quasirandom letters were used as the stimuli to eliminate other alternate explanations. Against expectations, no group showed ego-depletion despite using rules that have previously produced such an effect. This finding suggests that the rules within the letter-crossing task are not as important as the stimuli being used. Suggestions are made as to what factors are important to induce an ego-depletion effect in the letter-crossing task.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Gerry Tehan |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Aug 2025 01:43 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Aug 2025 01:43 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | ego-depletion, limited-strength model, letter-crossing task, self-regulation |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52607 |
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