Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Patient-centered Care01:13

Patient-centered Care

2.0K
Patient-centered care involves delivering care beyond inpatient hospitalization. Reflective practice can enhance a patient-centered approach. Reflective practice is a process of reasoning that considers all aspects of the present situation, including practicalities, learning from personal practice, and consideration of patient needs. Patients appreciate care decisions made while considering their input. Involving the patient in their care provides the patient with a sense of contribution rather...
2.0K
Critical Thinking II01:25

Critical Thinking II

2.8K
Critical thinking is a cognitive process with several attributes. The attributes of critical thinking include the following:
2.8K
Critical Thinking I01:24

Critical Thinking I

3.3K
Critical thinking helps decision-making and allows nurses to recognize barriers to success and find solutions to possible issues. It helps to brainstorm and implement ideas to achieve goals. Critical thinking helps acknowledge and state workflow inefficiencies while improving management techniques. Nurses understand the value of critical thinking and look for fellow nurses with critical thinking skills to upgrade their professional standards. Critical thinking can advance a nurse's career...
3.3K
High-Level and Low-Level Awareness01:19

High-Level and Low-Level Awareness

272
Controlled processes in human consciousness represent high-alert mental states where individuals deliberately focus their attention on achieving specific goals. Controlled processes can be seen in situations like mastering new technology, where a person might become so absorbed that they ignore surrounding distractions. Such processes involve selective attention, requiring one to concentrate on particular elements of experience while disregarding others. These are governed by executive...
272
Working Memory01:24

Working Memory

168
Working memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow an individual to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. It is an essential cognitive function that enables the execution of complex tasks such as problem-solving, comprehension, and reasoning. Unlike short-term memory, which simply involves the storage of information for a brief period, working memory involves the active manipulation and processing of this...
168
Metacognition01:26

Metacognition

159
Metacognition is a conscious process where individuals are aware of their cognitive and executive processes, such as planning before solving a problem or self-monitoring during reading. For instance, a writer may need help with composing a piece. The situation involves a writer who is working on a piece of writing, but while doing so, they realize that something is missing. They notice that their characters lack depth or details. This realization occurs because the writer is reflecting on their...
159

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Hallucination Proneness is Linked to Over-Reliance on Internal Priors for Noisy Speech.

Schizophrenia bulletin·2026
Same author

Functional hypothalamic MR spectroscopy at 7 Tesla: Metabolic shifts in response to food image stimuli and associations with hypothalamic volume and body mass index.

NeuroImage·2026
Same author

When the clock shifts: menopause timing is associated with reduced cognitive performance and gray matter volume in a population-based cohort.

Menopause (New York, N.Y.)·2026
Same author

Expectation Modulates Hedonic Experiences and Midbrain Responses to Sweet Flavor.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience·2026
Same author

When do we experience effort?

Synthese·2026
Same author

From dysphoria to anhedonia: age-related shift in the link between cognitive and affective symptoms.

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 4, 2025

The Adventures of Fundi Intervention Based on the Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Patients
05:48

The Adventures of Fundi Intervention Based on the Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Patients

Published on: June 12, 2020

5.8K

What Is Mental Effort: A Clinical Perspective.

Noham Wolpe1, Richard Holton2, Paul C Fletcher3

  • 1Department of Physical Therapy, The Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions, Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Biological Psychiatry
|February 3, 2024
PubMed
Summary

Mental effort is often poorly defined, causing confusion in neuroscience. Reframing mental effort as a subjective experience clarifies distinct mechanisms for cognitive impairments, aiding therapeutic interventions.

Keywords:
ApathyCognitive controlCognitive effortDemotivationMental effortOpportunity cost

More Related Videos

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation
14:04

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

Published on: August 26, 2011

12.5K
Chronic Stress Shifts Effort-Related Choice Behavior in a Y-Maze Barrier Task in Mice
09:37

Chronic Stress Shifts Effort-Related Choice Behavior in a Y-Maze Barrier Task in Mice

Published on: August 13, 2020

11.2K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 4, 2025

The Adventures of Fundi Intervention Based on the Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Patients
05:48

The Adventures of Fundi Intervention Based on the Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Patients

Published on: June 12, 2020

5.8K
Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation
14:04

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

Published on: August 26, 2011

12.5K
Chronic Stress Shifts Effort-Related Choice Behavior in a Y-Maze Barrier Task in Mice
09:37

Chronic Stress Shifts Effort-Related Choice Behavior in a Y-Maze Barrier Task in Mice

Published on: August 13, 2020

11.2K

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology

Background:

  • The term 'mental effort' is ambiguously used in neuroscience, encompassing both cognitive work and subjective experience.
  • This conflation hinders understanding of cognitive impairments in neuropsychiatric conditions due to distinct underlying mechanisms.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose a clearer, clinically useful definition of mental effort as a subjective experience.
  • To differentiate cognitive impairments arising from the cognitive apparatus versus subjective effort difficulties.
  • To explore how recent neuroscience advances inform the understanding of effort perception in clinical populations.

Main Methods:

  • Review of current neuroscience research on mental effort.
  • Analysis of the distinct mechanisms of cognitive work and subjective effort experience.
  • Examination of how effort perception relates to cost-benefit analyses in task switching.

Main Results:

  • Conflating cognitive work and subjective experience of effort impedes progress in neuropsychiatric research.
  • Defining mental effort as a subjective experience distinguishes between apparatus-based impairments (e.g., dementia) and motivational/subjective ones (e.g., ADHD, depression).
  • Emerging research suggests effort experience regulates task switching to optimize costs versus benefits.

Conclusions:

  • A precise definition of mental effort as a subjective experience is crucial for advancing cognitive impairment research.
  • This reframing facilitates a deeper understanding of mechanisms underlying cognitive deficits in diverse clinical groups.
  • Improved understanding will ultimately support the development of more effective therapeutic interventions for neuropsychiatric conditions.