University of Edinburgh.
Child Dev. 2018 Jul;89(4):1283-1295. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12805. Epub 2017 Apr 11.
Cognitive effort is costly and this cost likely influences the activities in which children engage. Yet, little is known about how school-age children perceive cognitive effort. The subjective value of cognitive effort, that is, how valuable or costly effort is perceived, was investigated in seventy-three 7- to 12-year-olds using an effort discounting paradigm. In two studies, it varied with task difficulty but not age, was predicted by actual effort engagement but not actual success and related to trait interest in effortful activities and proactive control engagement. Children are sensitive to cognitive effort and use it to guide behaviors, suggesting that poor performance may often reflect reluctance to engage cognitive effort rather than low ability.
认知努力是有代价的，而这种代价可能会影响儿童参与的活动。然而，目前对于学龄儿童如何感知认知努力还知之甚少。本研究使用努力折扣范式，调查了 73 名 7 至 12 岁儿童对认知努力的主观价值，即他们认为努力的价值或代价如何。在两项研究中，主观价值随任务难度而变化，但与年龄无关，受实际努力投入的预测，但不受实际成功的预测，与对费力活动的特质兴趣和主动控制投入有关。儿童对认知努力很敏感，并利用它来指导行为，这表明表现不佳通常反映的是不愿意投入认知努力，而不是能力低。
