Understanding the cognitive miser: Cue-utilization in effort-based decision making

Timothy L Dunn; Evan F Risko

doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102863

Understanding the cognitive miser: Cue-utilization in effort-based decision making

Acta Psychol (Amst). 2019 Jul:198:102863. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102863. Epub 2019 Jun 25.

Authors

Timothy L Dunn¹, Evan F Risko²

Affiliations

¹ Warfighter Performance Department, Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, CA, USA; Leidos Inc., San Diego, CA, USA. Electronic address: timothy.l.dunn12.ctr@mail.mil.
² Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.

PMID: 31252157
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102863

Abstract

The notion that individuals adapt their behaviors in ways that are sensitive to the effortfulness of cognitive processing is pervasive in psychology. In the current set of experiments, we provide a test of a cue-utilization account of how individuals decide which course of action is more or less effortful. In particular, we contrast the influences of time costs and demands on executive control with the influence of an available effort cue. Using a variant of the demand selection task (DST) that specifically focused on making effort-based decisions, we provide evidence that effort-based decisions can be dissociated from both time costs and demands on executive control in a manner predicted by a cue-utilization account.

Keywords: Cue-utilization; Decision-making; Effort avoidance; Metacognition; Perceived effort.

MeSH terms

Cognition / physiology*
Cues*
Decision Making / physiology*
Executive Function / physiology*
Humans
Physical Exertion