purpose: The ego-depletion phenomenon (i.e., exhaustion) has attracted attention due to its detrimental effect on human attention and control. This notion may have important points for studying stress, at least becoming a source of stress itself. Here we sought to reveal its effect on risky decision making and the role of mindfulness. Method: Thirty female participants filled out two mindfulness questionnaires before the computerized experiment. Then they watched a short video known to cause ego-depletion. Also a series of one-syllable words were being flashed at the bottom-right corner, a few seconds each. They were told to monitor the person's non-verbal behavior. Half of participants were instructed to not look at words in case they were shown on the video while the other half were not told anything about the words. The former group was supposed to control their attention by trying not to look at the words, becoming exhausted (i.e., being ego-depleted). After the video both group performed a modified version of Cambridge Risk Task. Results: The results showed the effect of the ego-depletion on risky decision making task, especially in terms of losing points and speed. Moreover, mindfulness was found to have a significant correlation with performance on the risk task in both groups. Analysis: By the current experimental setup, the role of ego-depletion on risky decision making was shown while the levels of mindfulness of participants were found to playing a role. The importance of ego-depletion in speed-accuracy and stressful situations as well as mindfulness will be discussed based on the current findings.
