Imaging depletion: fMRI provides new insights into the processes underlying ego depletion*
- PMID: 22997053
- PMCID: PMC3624962
- DOI: 10.1093/scan/nss111
Imaging depletion: fMRI provides new insights into the processes underlying ego depletion*
Abstract
'Ego depletion' refers to the phenomenon of diminished ability to enact self-regulation with repeated efforts. Several models offer process accounts of how ego depletion works, but few studies directly investigate these processes. A study in this issue of Social, Cognitive, & Affective Neuroscience by Wagner and Heatherton is among the first to do so. Their results substantiate one possible mechanism of ego depletion and, more broadly, illustrate how neuroscience data can further social psychological theory.
Comment on
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Self-regulatory depletion increases emotional reactivity in the amygdala.Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2013 Apr;8(4):410-7. doi: 10.1093/scan/nss082. Epub 2012 Jul 25. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2013. PMID: 22842815 Free PMC article.
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