The pleasure of effort: Cognitive challenges trigger hedonic physiological responses

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Traditional neuroscience views effort as aversive.
• Emerging research indicates humans can learn to seek effort.
• The hedonic experience of effort remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if effort-contingent rewards induce pleasure during effortful tasks.
• To test if reward-related hedonic facial responses occur after effort exertion.
• To examine the link between facial muscle activity and subjective pleasure.

Main Methods:

• A preregistered study with 194 participants.
• Participants engaged in a cognitive task with effort-contingent rewards.
• Measured facial responses (zygomaticus major muscle activity) during a subsequent non-incentivized task.

Main Results:

• Effort-contingent reward enhanced zygomaticus major (ZM) muscle activity post-effort, particularly in high-difficulty trials.
• ZM electrical activity correlated positively with subjective pleasure ratings in the experimental group for difficult trials.
• Findings suggest implicit tracking of effort's hedonic value by ZM activity.

Conclusions:

• Effort-contingent reward promotes an effort-related reward experience.
• Effort can become intrinsically rewarding, signaled by experienced pleasure.
• This challenges the notion of effort as solely aversive, highlighting its potential for positive hedonic value.