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Assessment of Stress Effects on Cognitive Flexibility using an Operant Strategy Shifting Paradigm
Published on: May 4, 2020
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Acute Psychosocial Stress Increases Cognitive-Effort Avoidance
Mario Bogdanov1, Jonas P Nitschke1, Sophia LoParco1,2
1Department of Psychology, McGill University.
Psychological Science
|August 31, 2021
Summary
Acute stress reduces motivation for cognitive effort, not cognitive control ability. Participants under stress preferred easier tasks, showing intact performance on challenging ones, highlighting a shift in effort motivation.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Stress Research
Background:
- Adverse effects of stress on cognition are often attributed to impaired cognitive control.
- Emerging evidence suggests cognitive control is effortful and aversive, hinting at motivation deficits under stress.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether acute stress decreases motivation to exert cognitive effort.
- To differentiate between stress-induced deficits in cognitive control function versus motivation.
Main Methods:
- A within-subjects design with 40 healthy young adults under stress and control conditions.
- Utilized a demand-selection task assessing choices between low-demand and high-demand cognitive tasks.
- Task-switching paradigm was employed to measure cognitive performance.
Main Results:
- Acute stress significantly increased preference for less demanding cognitive behaviors.
- Task-switching performance remained unaffected by the stress condition.
- Bayesian and multiverse analyses confirmed the reliability of these findings.
Conclusions:
- Stress modulates behavior by altering the motivation to engage cognitive control, rather than impairing control mechanisms themselves.
- Findings offer new perspectives on stress-related behavioral changes and effort-based decision-making.
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