Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40589880›Full record

SynthesisFrontiers in psychology2025

How does ego depletion reduce sports performance in athletes? A systematic meta-analysis.

Xu Yan, Jingyi Zhong, Yezheng Wang, Ying Tian, Lijuan Wang, Congcong Li, Kaihang Liu, Wei Zhao, Liyan Wang, Hongbiao Wang

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Frontiers in psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Xu YanDepartment of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Jingyi ZhongDepartment of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Yezheng WangDepartment of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Ying TianSchool of Physical Education Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, China.
Lijuan WangSchool of Physical Education Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, China.
Congcong LiDepartment of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Kaihang LiuDepartment of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Wei ZhaoDepartment of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Liyan WangCollege of Rehabilitation Sciences, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.
Hongbiao WangDepartment of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Purpose: This meta-analysis focused on exploring whether ego depletion affects sports performance. Subgroup analyses were conducted to compare the magnitude of effect sizes between different ego depletion initiation tasks and which type of sports performance is more susceptible to ego depletion as a moderator variable. Methods: This article was based on Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO, Embase, and Cochrane databases for the included articles, and meta-analysis of the included articles was performed using RevMan 5.4 software to evaluate the effect of ego depletion on athletes' sports performance through standardized mean difference. Results: Eleven articles and 12 studies were finally included. After sensitivity analyses using the Leave-One-Out method, two articles and one experiment were excluded with significant effect sizes. The final total effect size of ego depletion on athletes' sports performance SMD = -0.38 [95% CI: -0.56 to -0.21], Conclusion: The total effect size produced by ego depletion on athletes' sports performance was decreasing, a moderate effect size, and there may be publication bias. The subgroup analyses showed that the amount of effect produced by different ego depletion initiation tasks was different and the Stroop task was more likely to be produced. Also, the effect sizes affected by ego depletion were different for various types of sports performance, with more pronounced for aiming movements. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42024561990.

Indexed as

ego depletioninitiation taskself-controlself-control force modelsports performance

Identifiers

PMID40589880
PMCPMC12206732

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.