The role of task similarity for ego depletion: A registered report

Ego depletion refers to decrements in self-control performance resulting from prior use of self-control. The ego effect has received much research attention, but the more recent literature reports small or null effects. This registered report examined moderating task similarity on effect. We predicted a crossover interaction between type primary and secondary such that engaging demanding should lead better when it is similar (facilitation effect) worse dissimilar (ego depletion). In preregistered pilot study, N = 80 participants first completed either visual stop-signal (SST) simple lexical categorization task. They proceeded with one four tasks classified as increasingly based their underlying operations executive functions: (1) auditory task, (2) Stroop (3) Eriksen flanker (4) unsolvable anagrams. Both study high-powered replication (N 300) revealed However, evidence for facilitation was stronger than tasks. Together, these findings highlight important role related phenomena.