When effort fuels risk: Cognitive exertion increases risk-taking for gains but reduces it for losses

Exerting effort can lead people to engage in risk-taking behaviors. However, this risk-taking after-effect of effort expenditure is primarily observed in scenarios involving gains. It remains unclear how this after-effect is influenced by contextual valence (gain vs. loss contexts). This study addressed this issue in three experiments. Participants performed either a low or high cognitive demanding task during the effort-expenditure phase and then played a risky gambling task during the decision-making phase to obtain gains (Experiment 1), avoid losses (Experiment 2), and obtain gains while avoiding losses (Experiment 3). We found that cognitive effort exertion increased risk-taking for obtaining gains but reduced risk-taking for avoiding losses. Moreover, the risk-taking after-effect were influenced more pronouncedly by losses compared with gains. Our findings provide empirical evidence that the risk-taking after-effect of effort expenditure is context dependent, supporting distinct roles of cognitive effort in approach and avoidance motivational systems.