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Cited by 38Human-Automation Interaction and SafetyCognitive Abilities and TestingEmbodied and Extended Cognition

Problem Solvers Adjust Cognitive Offloading Based on Performance Goals

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Weis, Patrick P., Wiese, Eva·2019·Cognitive Science
DOI 10.1111/cogs.12802

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Abstract

Abstract When incorporating the environment into mental processing ( cf ., cognitive offloading ), one creates novel cognitive strategies that have the potential to improve task performance. Improved performance can, for example, mean faster problem solving, more accurate solutions, or even higher grades at university. 1 Although cognitive offloading has frequently been associated with improved performance, it is yet unclear how flexible problem solvers are at matching their offloading habits with their current performance goals (can people improve goal‐related instead of generic performance, e.g., when being in a hurry and aiming for a “quick and dirty” solution?). Here, we asked participants to solve a cognitive task, provided them with different goals—maximizing speed (SPD) or accuracy (ACC), respectively—and measured how frequently (Experiment 1) and how proficiently (Experiment 2) they made use of a novel external resource to support their cognitive processing. Experiment 1 showed that offloading behavior varied with goals: Participants offloaded less in the SPD than in the ACC condition. Experiment 2 showed that this differential offloading behavior was associated with high goal‐related performance: fast answers in the SPD, accurate answers in the ACC condition. Simultaneously, goal‐unrelated performance was sacrificed: inaccurate answers in the SPD, slow answers in the ACC condition. The findings support the notion of humans as canny offloaders who are able to successfully incorporate their environment in pursuit of their current cognitive goals. Future efforts should be focused on the finding's generalizability, for example, to settings without feedback or with high mental workload.

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  • Not all decisions to offload cognitive processes follow cost-benefit considerations but may also be influenced by the current goals of the observers as well as their tendency to avoid demanding cognitive actions.

    “However, not all decisions to offload cognitive processes follow cost–benefit considerations of different strategies but may also be influenced by the current goals of the observers (Weis & Wiese, 2019) as well as their tendency to avoid demanding cognitive actions (Ballard et al., 1997; Kool et al., 2010; Sachdeva & Gilbert, 2020).”

    From Consequences of cognitive offloading: Boosting performance but diminishing memory (2021) · cites this paper as Weis & Wiese, 2019

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Authors
Weis, P. P., & Wiese, E.
Affiliations
George Mason University (US)
Corresponding author
Weis, Patrick P.
ORCID
Venue
Cognitive Science
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2019-12
Volume
43
Issue
12
Pages
e12802-e12802
ISSN
  • 0364-0213 (ISSN-L)
  • 1551-6709
DOI
10.1111/cogs.12802
OpenAlex
W2996432744
Cited by
38
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2
FWCI
2.51
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 11 d)
Locations
  • Cognitive Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
  • PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Human-Automation Interaction and Safety
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
Keywords
cognitive offloading, problem solving, performance goals, speed-accuracy trade-off, goal-directed behavior, task performance, mental workload
MeSH terms
Cognition, Female, Goals, Humans, Male, Motivation, Problem Solving, Task Performance and Analysis, Young Adult

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