Eisenberger R, McDermitt M, Masterson F A, Over S
Am J Psychol. 1983 Fall;96(3):353-64.
Increasing the degree of effort required for the successful performance of one behavior has been found to heighten the subsequent performance of other behaviors. The present research tested whether discriminative stimuli for effort control the quantity and quality of transfer performance. Two experimenters administered alternately a perceptual task which required college students to identify subtle differences between cartoon drawings. The high-effort experimenter required five identifications per pair of drawings; the low-effort experimenter, one identification. The later assignment of an essay by the high-effort experimenter, as compared to the low-effort experimenter, resulted in a greater essay length and quality. These findings suggest that cues which signal the degree of effort required for reinforcement exert discriminative control over generalized effort.
研究发现，增加成功执行一种行为所需的努力程度会提高随后其他行为的表现。本研究测试了努力的辨别性刺激是否控制迁移表现的数量和质量。两名实验者交替进行一项知觉任务，要求大学生识别卡通画之间的细微差别。高努力程度的实验者要求每对图画进行五次识别；低努力程度的实验者要求进行一次识别。与低努力程度的实验者相比，高努力程度的实验者后来布置的一篇作文，其长度和质量都更高。这些发现表明，表明强化所需努力程度的线索对一般化努力施加了辨别性控制。
