University of Michigan.
University of California, Berkeley.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2024 Dec 1;36(12):2863-2885. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_02247.
Challenging goals can induce harder work but also greater stress, in turn potentially undermining goal achievement. We sought to examine how mental effort and subjective experiences thereof interact as a function of the challenge level and the size of the incentives at stake. Participants performed a task that rewarded individual units of effort investment (correctly performed Stroop trials) but only if they met a threshold number of correct trials within a fixed time interval (challenge level). We varied this challenge level (Study 1, n = 40) and the rewards at stake (Study 2, n = 79) and measured variability in task performance and self-reported affect across task intervals. Greater challenge and higher rewards facilitated greater effort investment but also induced greater stress, whereas higher rewards (and lower challenge) simultaneously induced greater positive affect. Within intervals, we observed an initial speed up then slowdown in performance, which could reflect dynamic reconfiguration of control. Collectively, these findings further our understanding of the influence of task demands and incentives on mental effort exertion and well-being.
具有挑战性的目标可以促使人们更加努力地工作，但也会带来更大的压力，从而有可能破坏目标的实现。我们试图研究在多大程度上，精神努力及其主观体验会随着挑战水平和奖励大小的变化而相互作用。参与者完成了一项任务，该任务奖励个人努力投入的单位（正确完成斯特鲁普试验），但前提是他们在固定时间间隔内达到正确试验的阈值数量（挑战水平）。我们在研究 1（n=40）中改变了这一挑战水平，在研究 2（n=79）中改变了奖励大小，并在任务间隔内测量了任务表现和自我报告的情感的可变性。更大的挑战和更高的奖励促进了更大的努力投入，但也带来了更大的压力，而更高的奖励（和更低的挑战）同时带来了更大的积极影响。在间隔内，我们观察到最初的速度加快，然后是速度减慢，这可能反映了控制的动态重新配置。总的来说，这些发现进一步加深了我们对任务需求和激励对精神努力和幸福感的影响的理解。
