Cognitive effort: A neuroeconomic approach

Abstract

Cognitive effort has been implicated in numerous theories regarding normal and aberrant behavior and the physiological response to engagement with demanding tasks. Yet, despite broad interest, no unifying, operational definition of cognitive effort itself has been proposed. Here, we argue that the most intuitive and epistemologically valuable treatment is in terms of effort-based decision-making, and advocate a neuroeconomics-focused research strategy. We first outline psychological and neuroscientific theories of cognitive effort. Then we describe the benefits of a neuroeconomic research strategy, highlighting how it affords greater inferential traction than do traditional markers of cognitive effort, including self-reports and physiologic markers of autonomic arousal. Finally, we sketch a future series of studies that can leverage the full potential of the neuroeconomic approach toward understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms that give rise to phenomenal, subjective cognitive effort.

Fig. 1

Titration of an offer to repeat the one-back task versus $2 for a higher N-back level

Fig. 2

Falling subjective value reflects increasing discounting with task demands, for younger (YA) and older (OA) adults

Fig. 3

COGED predicts delay discounting as measured by the area under the discounting curve (AUC). Lower AUC means steeper discounting