Does a brief mindfulness intervention counteract the detrimental effects of ego depletion in basketball free throw under pressure?

Research has shown that a brief mindfulness intervention may counteract the depleting effects of an emotion suppression task upon a subsequent psychological task that requires self-control.However, the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention on perceptual-motor tasks particularly in stressful situations have not yet been examined.The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a brief mindfulness intervention can counteract the detrimental effects of ego-depletion in basketball free throw performance under pressure.Seventy-two basketball players (mean age = 28.6 ± 4.0 yrs) were randomly assigned to one of the following 4 groups: depletion/mindfulness, no depletion/mindfulness, depletion/no mindfulness and control (no depletion/no mindfulness).The mindfulness intervention consisted of a 15min breathe and body mindfulness audio exercise, while the control condition (no mindfulness) listened to an audio book.A modified Stroop color-word task was used to manipulate self-control and induce ego depletion.Participants performed 30 free throws before and after the experimental manipulations.Results showed that basketball players' free throw performance decreased after ego-depletion, but when ego-depletion was followed by the mindfulness intervention, free throw performance was maintained at a level similar to the control group.Our results indicate that a brief mindfulness intervention mitigates the effects of ego depletion in a basketball free-throw task.