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  3. When Do We Experience Effort?
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  3. When Do We Experience Effort?

Related Experiment Video

Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans
12:09

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When do we experience effort?

Eleanor Holton1, Richard Holton2

  • 1Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, USA.

Synthese
|January 9, 2026

View abstract on PubMed

Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The experience of effort arises from resisting internal signals like hunger or pain, not just costs. This new perspective offers a better understanding of subjective effort and its underlying mechanisms.

Keywords:
AffectEffortMental effortPhysical effort

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Philosophy of Mind

Background:

  • Current theories often define the experience of effort based on costs.
  • These cost-based accounts may not fully capture the subjective nature of effort.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose a novel framework for understanding the experience of effort.
  • To differentiate the subjective experience of effort from the concept of effort itself.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual analysis of existing theories on effort.
  • Argumentation based on psychological and neuroscientific principles.

Main Results:

  • The experience of effort is best understood as arising from the resistance to affective, behavior-guiding signals.
  • This includes signals such as hunger, pain, fatigue, and anxiety.
  • This affective-resistance model is presented as superior to cost-based accounts.

    • Conclusions:

    • The proposed model offers a more satisfactory explanation for the subjective experience of effort.
    • It is crucial to distinguish between the experience of effort and effort as a construct.
    • Avoid reifying effort as an independent entity.