Cited by 291Decision-Making and Behavioral EconomicsNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesBehavioral Health and Interventions

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Mental labour

Kool, Wouter, Botvinick, Matthew·2018·Nature Human Behaviour

DOI 10.1038/s41562-018-0401-9

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Abstract

Mental effort is an elementary notion in our folk psychology and a familiar fixture in everyday introspective experience. However, as an object of scientific study, mental effort has remained rather elusive. Cognitive psychology has provided some tools for understanding how effort impacts performance, by linking effort with cognitive control function. What has remained less clear are the principles that govern the allocation of mental effort. Under what circumstances do people choose to invest mental effort, and when do they decline to do so? And what regulates the intensity of mental effort when it is applied? In new and promising work, these questions are being approached with the tools of behavioural economics. Though still in its infancy, this economic approach to mental effort research has already uncovered important aspects of effort-based decision-making, and points clearly to future lines of inquiry, including some intriguing opportunities presented by recent artificial intelligence research.

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“As such, effort can be conceptualizedasacost,andsubjecttorationalallocationbasedonexpected costsandbene ﬁ ts 6,58,59 .”
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“…with several other studies that explored reward-related processing improvements (Chiew & Braver, 2016; Falkenstein et al., 2003; Fischer et al., 2018; Kleinsorge, 2001; Kleinsorge & Rinkenauer, 2012; Kool & Botvinick, 2018; Langsdorf et al., 2022, 2025; Rieger et al., 2021; Steinborn et al., 2017).”
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“Mental effort is often experienced as aversive, as individuals tend to minimize cognitive effort in accordance with the law of least work (Kool & Botvinick, 2018).”
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“Mental e ﬀ ort can be conceptualised as a limited resource that must be balanced with the prospects of gaining and losing other resources (Clay et al., 2022; Kool & Botvinick, 2018).”
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“Effort avoidance thus seems to take both cognitive and physical effort into account (Anderson, 1990; Baroody et al., 1986; Botvinick & Rosen, 2009; Kool & Botvinick, 2018; Kool et al., 2010).”
Background
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“The differences in reward effects across both studies could be indicative of a strategic processing adjustment for the allocation of mental effort, to maximize rewarded task performance in order to receive a reward (Kool & Botvinick, 2018).”
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“Recent research, however, has revealed that effort, when exerted towards creating something, can increase people’s valuation of the product, service, or idea (Inzlicht et al., 2018; Kool & Botvinick, 2018; Norton et al., 2012).”
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Integrating Reward Information for Prospective Behavior
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“Cognitive effort is a critical component for the effective functioning of control engagement (Kool & Botvinick, 2018; Shepherd, 2023; Bouzidi & Gendolla, 2023), which is usually involved in the deployment of cognitive control.”

Authors: Kool, W., & Botvinick, M.
Affiliations: Harvard University (US)
Google DeepMind (United Kingdom) (GB)
Corresponding author: Botvinick, Matthew
ORCID: Kool, Wouter
Botvinick, Matthew
Venue: Nature Human Behaviour
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2018-09-03
Volume: 2
Issue: 12
Pages: 899-908
ISSN: 2397-3374 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0401-9
OpenAlex: W4249127163
Cited by: 288
References: 85
Citations by year: 2026: 61 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 9
FWCI: 1.95
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/text-and-data-mining (tdm)
www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/text-and-data-mining (vor)
Locations: Nature Human Behaviour (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
Keywords: cognitive effort, effort allocation, effort-based decision making, behavioral economics, cognitive control, cost-benefit trade-off, effort intensity, artificial intelligence
MeSH terms: Cognition, Decision Making, Humans, Reward, Work, Economics, Behavioral

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