An opportunity cost model of subjective effort and task performance.
An opportunity cost model of subjective effort and task performance.
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DOI：
10.1017/s0140525x12003196
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发表时间：
2013-12
影响因子：
29.3
通讯作者：
Myers, Justus
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kurzban, Robert;Duckworth, Angela;Kable, Joseph W.;Myers, Justus
为什么执行某些任务会导致令人厌恶的脑力劳动体验和伴随而来的任务绩效下降？一种解释是，物质资源会随着时间的推移而耗尽。我们提出了另一种解释，该解释集中在与任务绩效相关的成本和收益的心理表征上。具体地说，某些计算机制，特别是那些与执行功能相关的机制，在任何给定时刻只能用于有限数量的同时任务。因此，这些计算机制的部署会带来机会成本--也就是这些系统可能得到的次佳使用。我们认为，努力的现象学可以被理解为这些成本/收益计算的感觉输出。反过来，努力的主观体验促使这些计算机制在服务于本任务时减少部署。然后，这些机会成本表示法与其他成本/收益计算一起确定所花费的工作量，并在其他条件相同的情况下导致绩效下降。在阐述这一观点时，我们回顾了与这些任务相关的努力现象学和随着时间的推移而导致绩效下降的其他解释。同样，我们回顾了跨子学科，特别是心理学和神经科学的相关经验结果的广泛范围。我们希望，我们的建议将有助于在从不同角度处理类似问题的不同领域之间建立联系，我们强调备选模式在经验上可能有所区别的方式。
Why does performing certain tasks cause the aversive experience of mental effort and concomitant deterioration in task performance? One explanation posits a physical resource that is depleted over time. We propose an alternate explanation that centers on mental representations of the costs and benefits associated with task performance. Specifically, certain computational mechanisms, especially those associated with executive function, can be deployed for only a limited number of simultaneous tasks at any given moment. Consequently, the deployment of these computational mechanisms carries an opportunity cost – that is, the next-best use to which these systems might be put. We argue that the phenomenology of effort can be understood as the felt output of these cost/benefit computations. In turn, the subjective experience of effort motivates reduced deployment of these computational mechanisms in the service of the present task. These opportunity cost representations, then, together with other cost/benefit calculations, determine effort expended and, everything else equal, result in performance reductions. In making our case for this position, we review alternate explanations both for the phenomenology of effort associated with these tasks and for performance reductions over time. Likewise, we review the broad range of relevant empirical results from across subdisciplines, especially psychology and neuroscience. We hope that our proposal will help to build links among the diverse fields that have been addressing similar questions from different perspectives, and we emphasize ways in which alternate models might be empirically distinguished.