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PreprintCited by 4Sleep and Work-Related FatigueNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesHuman-Automation Interaction and Safety

Objective but not subjective fatigue increases cognitive task avoidance

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Benoit, Charles-Etienne, Solopchuk, Oleg, Borragán, Guillermo, Carbonnelle, Alice, Van Durme, Sophie, Zénon, Alexandre·2017·bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
DOI 10.1101/208322
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Abstract

Mentally demanding tasks feel effortful and are usually avoided. Furthermore, prolonged cognitive engagement leads to mental fatigue, consisting of subjective feeling of exhaustion and decline in performance. Despite the intuitive characterization of fatigue as an increase in subjective effort perception, the effect of fatigue on effort cost has never been tested experimentally. To this end, sixty participants in 2 separate experiments underwent a forced-choice working memory task following either a fatigue-inducing (i.e. Stroop task) or a control manipulation. We measured subjective fatigue and effort as well as their objective behavioral signatures: performance decline and task avoidance, respectively. We found that fatigue-induced performance decline was correlated with task avoidance, while the feelings of fatigue and effort were unrelated to each other. Our findings highlight the discrepancy between subjective and objective manifestations of fatigue and effort, and provide valuable evidence feeding the ongoing theoretical debate on the nature of these constructs.

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Benoit, C.-E., Solopchuk, O., Borragán, G., Carbonnelle, A., Van Durme, S., & Zénon, A.
Affiliations
  • Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine (FR)
  • Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE)
  • UCLouvain (BE)
ORCID
Venue
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Publisher
openRxiv
Published
2017-10-24
DOI
10.1101/208322
OpenAlex
W2765586196
Cited by
4
References
5
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2017: 1
Type
posted content
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc-nd
Locations
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • Fondation Louvain
  • Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
  • Fondation Médicale Reine Elisabeth
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Human-Automation Interaction and Safety
Keywords
mental fatigue, task avoidance, effort cost, subjective fatigue, effort perception, performance degradation, working memory, Stroop task, cognitive effort

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