Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Psychol Assess. 2018 Sep;30(9):1237-1248. doi: 10.1037/pas0000563. Epub 2018 Apr 5.
Research in animals suggests that decisions about physical versus cognitive effort have distinct neural bases, but exploration of this question in humans is hampered by lack of parallel measures of physical and cognitive effort for rewards. We developed a novel measure of willingness to exert cognitive effort for rewards, the C-EEfRT, paralleling the validated physical effort expenditure for rewards task (EEfRT). To validate the C-EEfRT we: (a) tested whether EEfRT and C-EEfRT tasks were equivalently difficult; (b) tested whether decisions on the EEfRT and C-EEfRT were equivalently responsive to changes in reward; (c) examined relationships between the C-EEfRT and anhedonia, intelligence, and working memory. Last, we tested the relationship between willingness to exert physical and cognitive effort for rewards in humans. Sixty healthy adults completed the EEfRT, the C-EEfRT, an anhedonia self-report, an intelligence test, and a working memory task. Overall willingness to exert effort was higher on the C-EEfRT than the EEfRT, particularly when reward probability and amount were low. This was despite participants perceiving the cognitive task as more difficult, and having greater difficulty completing it. Differential effects of physical fatigue may have contributed. Anhedonia was not related to effort on either measure. Working memory, but not intelligence, was associated with cognitive effort. There was a moderate relationship between cognitive and physical effort. These findings suggest the importance of measuring cognitive effort as distinct from physical effort in humans. Future studies should consider calibrating task difficulty for each individual, and exploring cognitive effort in clinical populations. (PsycINFO Database Record
动物研究表明，对于体力和认知努力的决策有不同的神经基础，但由于缺乏奖励的体力和认知努力的平行测量，人类对这个问题的探索受到了阻碍。我们开发了一种新的衡量为奖励付出认知努力的意愿的方法，即 C-EEfRT，与经过验证的奖励体力支出任务（EEfRT）平行。为了验证 C-EEfRT，我们：（a）测试 EEfRT 和 C-EEfRT 任务是否具有相同的难度；（b）测试 EEfRT 和 C-EEfRT 上的决策是否对奖励的变化做出相同的反应；（c）研究 C-EEfRT 与快感缺失、智力和工作记忆之间的关系。最后，我们测试了人类为奖励付出体力和认知努力的意愿之间的关系。60 名健康成年人完成了 EEfRT、C-EEfRT、快感缺失自我报告、智力测试和工作记忆任务。总的来说，在 C-EEfRT 上付出努力的意愿高于 EEfRT，尤其是在奖励概率和数量较低的情况下。尽管参与者认为认知任务更难，并且完成起来更困难，但情况还是如此。体力疲劳的差异效应可能起了作用。快感缺失与两种措施的努力都没有关系。工作记忆，但不是智力，与认知努力有关。认知和体力努力之间存在中等程度的关系。这些发现表明，在人类中测量认知努力与体力努力的区别是很重要的。未来的研究应该考虑为每个个体校准任务难度，并探索临床人群中的认知努力。
