Revisiting Ego Depletion: Evidence from Multi-Lab Collaborations

Junhua Dang; Shanshan Xiao; Lihua Mao; Xiaoping Liu; Anna Baumert; Solenne Bonneterre; Shiyu Cai; Xiaoxi Chen; Margaux de Chanaleilles; Ning Ding; Wei Fan; Yi Feng; Dingguo Gao; Xiaoqing He; Wanting Huang; Ismaharif Ismail; Lile Jia; Haijiang Li; Ruijing Li; Zhenhua Li; Chunhui Lim; Laura Linke; Yangang Nie; Zhihong Qiao; Mengmeng Ren; A. Timur Sevincer; Jingbin Tan; Ziyi Wang; Song Wu; Oulmann Zerhouni; Yiping Zhong; Yalin Zhu; Axel Zinkernagel; Helgi B. Schiöth

doi:10.1177/18344909251386084

Revisiting Ego Depletion: Evidence from Multi-Lab Collaborations

Junhua Dang^*
, Shanshan Xiao^*
, Lihua Mao^*
, Xiaoping Liu^*
, Anna Baumert
, Solenne Bonneterre
, Shiyu Cai
, Xiaoxi Chen
, Margaux de Chanaleilles
, Ning Ding
, Wei Fan
, Yi Feng
, Dingguo Gao
, Xiaoqing He
, Wanting Huang
, Ismaharif Ismail
, Lile Jia
, Haijiang Li
, Ruijing Li
, Zhenhua Li

Chunhui Lim, Laura Linke, Yangang Nie, Zhihong Qiao, Mengmeng Ren, A. Timur Sevincer, Jingbin Tan, Ziyi Wang, Song Wu, Oulmann Zerhouni, Yiping Zhong, Yalin Zhu, Axel Zinkernagel, Helgi B. Schiöth

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The ego depletion effect posits that initial exertion of self-control impairs subsequent self-regulatory performance. Despite being examined in over 1000 independent studies and cited extensively, recent large-scale studies have questioned its validity. We propose that the replicability of ego depletion may hinge on the intensity of the manipulation. Our new paradigm, involving a demanding antisaccade task lasting for 30–40 min followed by a Go-Nogo task, was tested across 14 samples, totaling 2078 participants worldwide, both in laboratory settings and online. Results consistently demonstrated significant ego depletion effects (d = 0.31 to 0.35) with minimal heterogeneity (I² = 0). Bayesian meta-analysis further supported these findings with strong evidence (BF₁₀ > 700). This study underscores the importance of manipulation intensity in ego depletion research and provides a reliable method for future studies. These findings have significant implications for resolving empirical controversies in ego depletion and addressing the broader replication crisis in psychology.

Original language	English
Article number	18344909251386084
Journal	Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology
Volume	19
Pages (from-to)	1-10
Number of pages	10
ISSN	1834-4909
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/18344909251386084
Publication status	Published - 09.2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Research areas and keywords

Ego depletion
manipulation intensity
replication crisis
Psychology

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

General Social Sciences
General Psychology
Psychology(all)
Social Sciences(all)

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10.1177/18344909251386084Licence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

Dang, J., Xiao, S., Mao, L., Liu, X., Baumert, A., Bonneterre, S., Cai, S., Chen, X., de Chanaleilles, M., Ding, N., Fan, W., Feng, Y., Gao, D., He, X., Huang, W., Ismail, I., Jia, L., Li, H., Li, R., ... Schiöth, H. B. (2025). Revisiting Ego Depletion: Evidence from Multi-Lab Collaborations. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, 19, 1-10. Article 18344909251386084. https://doi.org/10.1177/18344909251386084

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title = "Revisiting Ego Depletion: Evidence from Multi-Lab Collaborations",

abstract = "The ego depletion effect posits that initial exertion of self-control impairs subsequent self-regulatory performance. Despite being examined in over 1000 independent studies and cited extensively, recent large-scale studies have questioned its validity. We propose that the replicability of ego depletion may hinge on the intensity of the manipulation. Our new paradigm, involving a demanding antisaccade task lasting for 30–40 min followed by a Go-Nogo task, was tested across 14 samples, totaling 2078 participants worldwide, both in laboratory settings and online. Results consistently demonstrated significant ego depletion effects (d = 0.31 to 0.35) with minimal heterogeneity (I2 = 0). Bayesian meta-analysis further supported these findings with strong evidence (BF10 > 700). This study underscores the importance of manipulation intensity in ego depletion research and provides a reliable method for future studies. These findings have significant implications for resolving empirical controversies in ego depletion and addressing the broader replication crisis in psychology.",

keywords = "Ego depletion, manipulation intensity, replication crisis, Psychology",

author = "Junhua Dang and Shanshan Xiao and Lihua Mao and Xiaoping Liu and Anna Baumert and Solenne Bonneterre and Shiyu Cai and Xiaoxi Chen and \{de Chanaleilles\}, Margaux and Ning Ding and Wei Fan and Yi Feng and Dingguo Gao and Xiaoqing He and Wanting Huang and Ismaharif Ismail and Lile Jia and Haijiang Li and Ruijing Li and Zhenhua Li and Chunhui Lim and Laura Linke and Yangang Nie and Zhihong Qiao and Mengmeng Ren and Sevincer, \{A. Timur\} and Jingbin Tan and Ziyi Wang and Song Wu and Oulmann Zerhouni and Yiping Zhong and Yalin Zhu and Axel Zinkernagel and Schi{\"o}th, \{Helgi B.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).",

year = "2025",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1177/18344909251386084",

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Dang, J, Xiao, S, Mao, L, Liu, X, Baumert, A, Bonneterre, S, Cai, S, Chen, X, de Chanaleilles, M, Ding, N, Fan, W, Feng, Y, Gao, D, He, X, Huang, W, Ismail, I, Jia, L, Li, H, Li, R, Li, Z, Lim, C, Linke, L, Nie, Y, Qiao, Z, Ren, M, Sevincer, AT, Tan, J, Wang, Z, Wu, S, Zerhouni, O, Zhong, Y, Zhu, Y, Zinkernagel, A & Schiöth, HB 2025, 'Revisiting Ego Depletion: Evidence from Multi-Lab Collaborations', Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, vol. 19, 18344909251386084, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/18344909251386084

TY - JOUR

T1 - Revisiting Ego Depletion

T2 - Evidence from Multi-Lab Collaborations

AU - Dang, Junhua

AU - Xiao, Shanshan

AU - Mao, Lihua

AU - Liu, Xiaoping

AU - Baumert, Anna

AU - Bonneterre, Solenne

AU - Cai, Shiyu

AU - Chen, Xiaoxi

AU - de Chanaleilles, Margaux

AU - Ding, Ning

AU - Fan, Wei

AU - Feng, Yi

AU - Gao, Dingguo

AU - He, Xiaoqing

AU - Huang, Wanting

AU - Ismail, Ismaharif

AU - Jia, Lile

AU - Li, Haijiang

AU - Li, Ruijing

AU - Li, Zhenhua

AU - Lim, Chunhui

AU - Linke, Laura

AU - Nie, Yangang

AU - Qiao, Zhihong

AU - Ren, Mengmeng

AU - Sevincer, A. Timur

AU - Tan, Jingbin

AU - Wang, Ziyi

AU - Wu, Song

AU - Zerhouni, Oulmann

AU - Zhong, Yiping

AU - Zhu, Yalin

AU - Zinkernagel, Axel

AU - Schiöth, Helgi B.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

PY - 2025/9

Y1 - 2025/9

N2 - The ego depletion effect posits that initial exertion of self-control impairs subsequent self-regulatory performance. Despite being examined in over 1000 independent studies and cited extensively, recent large-scale studies have questioned its validity. We propose that the replicability of ego depletion may hinge on the intensity of the manipulation. Our new paradigm, involving a demanding antisaccade task lasting for 30–40 min followed by a Go-Nogo task, was tested across 14 samples, totaling 2078 participants worldwide, both in laboratory settings and online. Results consistently demonstrated significant ego depletion effects (d = 0.31 to 0.35) with minimal heterogeneity (I2 = 0). Bayesian meta-analysis further supported these findings with strong evidence (BF10 > 700). This study underscores the importance of manipulation intensity in ego depletion research and provides a reliable method for future studies. These findings have significant implications for resolving empirical controversies in ego depletion and addressing the broader replication crisis in psychology.

AB - The ego depletion effect posits that initial exertion of self-control impairs subsequent self-regulatory performance. Despite being examined in over 1000 independent studies and cited extensively, recent large-scale studies have questioned its validity. We propose that the replicability of ego depletion may hinge on the intensity of the manipulation. Our new paradigm, involving a demanding antisaccade task lasting for 30–40 min followed by a Go-Nogo task, was tested across 14 samples, totaling 2078 participants worldwide, both in laboratory settings and online. Results consistently demonstrated significant ego depletion effects (d = 0.31 to 0.35) with minimal heterogeneity (I2 = 0). Bayesian meta-analysis further supported these findings with strong evidence (BF10 > 700). This study underscores the importance of manipulation intensity in ego depletion research and provides a reliable method for future studies. These findings have significant implications for resolving empirical controversies in ego depletion and addressing the broader replication crisis in psychology.

KW - Ego depletion

KW - manipulation intensity

KW - replication crisis

KW - Psychology

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105018964203

U2 - 10.1177/18344909251386084

DO - 10.1177/18344909251386084

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:105018964203

SN - 1834-4909

VL - 19

SP - 1

EP - 10

JO - Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology

JF - Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology

M1 - 18344909251386084

ER -

Revisiting Ego Depletion: Evidence from Multi-Lab Collaborations

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Research areas and keywords

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

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