Domain-general cognitive motivation: evidence from economic decision-making

Jennifer L Crawford,Jonathan E Peelle,Sarah A Eisenstein,Todd S Braver

doi:10.1186/s41235-021-00272-7

Jennifer L Crawford, Jonathan E Peelle + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-021-00272-7

Copy DOI

Abstract

Stable individual differences in cognitive motivation (i.e., the tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities) have been documented with self-report measures, yet convergent support for a trait-level construct is still lacking. In the present study, we use an innovative decision-making paradigm (COG-ED) to quantify the costs of cognitive effort, a metric of cognitive motivation, across two distinct cognitive domains (working memory and speech comprehension). We hypothesize that cognitive motivation operates similarly within individuals, regardless of domain. Specifically, we test whether individual differences in effort costs are stable across domains, even after controlling for other potential sources of shared individual variation. Conversely, we evaluate whether the costs of cognitive effort across domains may be better explained in terms of other relevant cognitive and personality-related constructs, such as working memory capacity or reward sensitivity.

Highlights

People frequently make decisions regarding whether to engage in cognitively effortful activities, or instead, choosing a less effortful alternative
Cognitive effort-based decision-making likely varies according to the particulars of any given situation, stable individual differences in motivation may play an important role in the decision-making process
Cognitive motivation has been conceptualized as a trait that operates distinctly from cognitive ability (Cacioppo et al 1996), suggesting that it is a meaningful and unique construct in the study of individual differences. Empirical work supports this claim, demonstrating that an individual’s cognitive motivation is related to, but distinct from, their fluid intelligence (Fleischhauer et al 2010; Hill et al 2013) and working memory capacity (Hill et al 2016; Therriault et al 2015). These findings provide support for the claim that cognitive motivation is a domain-general construct that indexes the propensity of an individual to engage in cognitively effortful activities independent of their cognitive and intellectual abilities

Summary

Introduction

People frequently make decisions regarding whether to engage in cognitively effortful activities (such as taking on a challenging project at work), or instead, choosing a less effortful alternative (such as mindlessly browsing the internet). Cognitive effort-based decision-making likely varies according to the particulars of any given situation, stable individual differences in motivation may play an important role in the decision-making process. Whereas some individuals might tend to strongly weigh the costs of cognitive effort, choosing to forgo effortful activities more generally, others may welcome the challenges presented to Support for this trait-like tendency to engage in cognitively effortful activities has been found in personality psychology research. The construct of Need For Cognition, assessed via self-report questionnaire (Need for Cognition Scale; NCS), is conceptualized as a stable individual difference in the tendency to engage in, and enjoy, effortful cognitive activities (Cacioppo et al 1996; Cacioppo and Petty 1982), and is often referred to with the short-hand terminology of “cognitive motivation”. Individual differences in cognitive motivation, assessed via the NCS, have been found to relate to important life outcomes, such as academic achievement and the ability to seek out and scrutinize information pertinent to daily decision-making (Cacioppo et al 1996)

Objectives

Methods