Mental effort
Subjective effort cost
Also searched as Subjective effort cost.
In depth
An emerging construct: the subjective cost of mental work and its accumulation into mental fatigue. An inhibitory input — more effort cost means less available executive capacity.
What drives it
Sleep reduces it.
Verbatim: 'SD generally decreased cognitive performance and increased required mental effort.' (10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100706). What was measured: Subjective self-report ratings of mental effort (RSME-type) accompanying a response-inhibition task and a multitask, before and after one night of total sleep deprivation versus a normal night. doi 10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100706
What it drives
It reduces Executive function.
Verbatim: 'the reverse-Stroop interference was not affected in pCL_Rest (P = 0.46), it was larger (i.e., declined EF) in pCL_EX than EX condition (P 0.05). These observations provide evidence that the effort of pCL impairs RT and EF even during exercise' (10.1038/s41598-022-26788-6, PMC9794810). Scope (human experiment): 21 healthy males only; EF measured as reverse-Stroop interference and reaction time; the significant effect appeared during exercise and was null at rest (P=0.46). doi 10.1038/s41598-022-26788-6 · PMC9794810
Blends that modulate it
Each blend page names this pathway and carries the study behind its claim.
See it on the map
Open the causal map to follow this pathway upstream and downstream, arrow by arrow, each with its study.