What is it about?
After self-control resources have been depleted, people experience a sensation of mental exhaustion, visible in the EEG of frontal brain areas as a phenomenon called "local sleep". While in this fatigued state, it is more likely that people respond aggressively in social situations.
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Why is it important?
In a society where productivity levels are often pushed to the limit, sometimes we are likely making everyday life decisions in a state of mild mental fatigue. Given our results, it would be beneficial to rethink our schedule so that those activities that require harder decision-making processes are performed in slots of the day in which we think that we should be in a fresher mental state.
Perspectives
I hope this article might give a new perspective on some phenomena and boost research. Also, I think the findings are important since there is evidence that this type of mental fatigue can alter one's behavior in a way that might be unfavorable or even lead to hostile/aggressive acts.
Erica Ordali
University of Florence
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Prolonged exertion of self-control causes increased sleep-like frontal brain activity and changes in aggressivity and punishment, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, November 2024, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2404213121.
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