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Appealing to the cognitive miser: Using demand avoidance to modulate cognitive flexibility in cued and voluntary task
Nicholaus P Brosowsky1, Tobias Egner1
1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|November 12, 2021
Summary
People can change their cognitive control by avoiding difficult tasks. Associating task difficulty with easier tasks improved cognitive flexibility, but not stability.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Cognitive control involves balancing stability and flexibility.
- Goal-directed behavior requires dynamic regulation of these control states.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if avoiding cognitive demand can motivate dynamic regulation of cognitive control.
- To test if demand avoidance influences the stability-flexibility continuum.
Main Methods:
- Used cued and voluntary task-switching paradigms.
- Associated cognitive demand with task switches or repetitions.
- Measured performance changes after demand manipulation removal.
Main Results:
- Associating demand with task repetitions enhanced cognitive flexibility.
- Associating demand with task switches did not enhance cognitive stability.
- Results contrasted with a control group.
Conclusions:
- Avoidance of cognitive demand can modulate control regulation along the stability-flexibility continuum.
- Task-switching paradigms have limitations in examining motivational influences on control adaptation.
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