.1 The Eeffect of Iingesting and Rrinsing Ssucrose and Ssucralose on Ddepleted Sself-Ccontrol Pperformance No Eeffects of Iingesting or Rrinsing Ssucrose on Ddepleted Sself-Ccontrol Pperformance. BNB Boyle, N., Lawton, l., C., Allen, R., Croden, F., Smith, K., & Dye, L.
.1 The Eeffect of Iingesting and Rrinsing Ssucrose and Ssucralose on Ddepleted Sself-Ccontrol Pperformance No Eeffects of Iingesting or Rrinsing Ssucrose on Ddepleted Sself-Ccontrol Pperformance [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Acts of self-control require the effortful inhibition of predominant responses, emotions, thoughts, and impulses, permitting behaviour to vary adaptively moment to moment [1,2]. Exertion of self-control is considered to be a key process in the human personality structure as flexibility in behavioural response permits the attainment of goals, and facilitates adherence to rules, laws, and social norms and standards [3]. Indeed, self-control capacity has been positively associated with an impressive array of behaviours of personal and societal significance (e.g., reduced aggression [4]; scholistic achievement [5]; interpersonal success [6]; criminality [7]). The capacity to exert self-control appears to be limited [8]. The resource strength model maintains that acts of self-control consume and temporarily deplete a common, and crucially limited, resource; ultimately resulting in 'ego depletion' [9,10]. Self-control performance is therefore determined by the current strength or level of depletion of this common resource. Indeed, initial expenditure of self-control has been repeatedly demonstrated to result in reduced subsequent performance on self-control tasks independent of differing task modalities [11]. This would fit with the claim that the resource involved in inhibition and self-control reflects a form of executive function [12,13]. Gailliot and Baumeister [14] extended the strength model from the metaphorical to the physical by proposing that glucose is the central energy source of self-control. This proposition was founded on evidence of (i) reduced blood Abstract Self-control tasks appear to deplete a limited resource resulting in reduced subsequent self-control performance; a state of ego depletion. Evidence of reduced peripheral glucose by exertion of self-control, and attenuation of ego depletion by carbohydrate metabolism underpins the proposition that this macronutrient provides the energetic source of self-control. However, the demonstration of positive, non-metabolic effects on ego depletion when merely sensing carbohydrates orally contradicts this hypothesis. Recent studies have also failed to support both metabolic and non-metabolic accounts. The effects of ingesting or rinsing a carbohydrate (sucrose) and an artificially sweetened (sucralose) solution on capillary blood and interstitial glucose, and depleted self-control performance were examined in older adults. Forty, healthy, adults (50–65 years) ingested and rinsed sucrose and sucralose solutions in a 2 (method) x× 2 (source), fully counterbalanced, repeated measures, crossover design. Capillary blood and interstitial glucose responses were assayed. Depleted self-control performance (induced by the Bakan visual processing task) on an attention switch task was assessed under each study condition. Ego depletion had no consistent effects on peripheral glucose levels and no significant effects of ingesting or rinsing sucrose on self-control were observed. The act of rinsing the solutions, independent of energetic content, resulted in a small, non-significant enhancement of performance on the attention switch task relative to ingesting the same solutions (RT: p = .05; accuracy: p = .09). In conclusion, a metabolic account of self-control was not supported. Whilst a positive effect of rinsing on depleted self-control performance was demonstrated, this was independent of energetic content. Findings suggest glucose is an unlikely physiological analogue for self-control resources.

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