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Which task will we choose first? Precrastination and cognitive load in task ordering.

Lisa R Fournier1, Emily Coder2, Clark Kogan3

  • 1Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-4820, USA. lfournier@wsu.edu.

Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Precrastination, completing tasks early, is a behavior driven by the desire to reduce cognitive load. This tendency involves expending more physical effort to minimize mental effort, suggesting it may be an automatic default behavior.

Keywords:
Cognitive loadDecision makingDual taskPrecrastinationTask ordering

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Precrastination is the tendency to start tasks immediately, often increasing physical effort.
  • Previous research suggests precrastination may be linked to cognitive load management.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the generality of precrastination.
  • To test the hypothesis that precrastination is motivated by cognitive load reduction.

Main Methods:

  • Participants moved two objects, with variations in object type and cognitive load.
  • Experiment 1 involved low-spillage objects and a memory task.
  • Experiment 2 used high-spillage objects (water cups) to increase attentional demands.

Main Results:

  • Participants exhibited precrastination by picking up the nearer object first in Experiment 1.
  • Increased cognitive load (memory task) in Experiment 1 led to higher precrastination rates.
  • The preference for picking up the nearer object first disappeared when carrying objects required higher attention (Experiment 2).

Conclusions:

  • Precrastination is a generalizable behavior.
  • Precrastination is sensitive to cognitive load, with individuals expending more physical effort to reduce cognitive effort.
  • Precrastination may represent a default, automatic behavioral tendency.