Deriving Mental Energy From Task Completion
Many tasks in everyday life (e.g., making an accurate decision, completing job tasks, and searching for product information) are extrinsically motivated (i.e., the task is performed to gain a benefit) and require mental effort. Prior research shows that the cognitive resources needed to perform an e...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.717414/full |
| _version_ | 1818693519440609280 |
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| author | Xiang Wang Chris Janiszewski Yanmei Zheng Juliano Laran Wonseok Eric Jang |
| author_facet | Xiang Wang Chris Janiszewski Yanmei Zheng Juliano Laran Wonseok Eric Jang |
| author_sort | Xiang Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many tasks in everyday life (e.g., making an accurate decision, completing job tasks, and searching for product information) are extrinsically motivated (i.e., the task is performed to gain a benefit) and require mental effort. Prior research shows that the cognitive resources needed to perform an extrinsically motivated task are allocated pre-task. The pre-task allocation of mental resources tends to be conservative, because mental effort is costly. Consequently, there are mental energy deficits when the use of mental resources exceeds the allocated amount. This research provides evidence for post-task mental energy replenishment. The amount of resource replenishment is a function of the size of the mental energy deficit and the favorability of the cost-benefit trade-off experienced at the completion of the task (i.e., the value of the reward given the energy investment). The findings have implications for how cognitive resources management influences the availability of mental energy on a moment-to-moment basis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T13:14:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b7b74082eed44563bff39a3a26eaa399 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T13:14:58Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-b7b74082eed44563bff39a3a26eaa3992022-12-21T21:47:01ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782021-08-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.717414717414Deriving Mental Energy From Task CompletionXiang Wang0Chris Janiszewski1Yanmei Zheng2Juliano Laran3Wonseok Eric Jang4Warrington College of Business, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United StatesWarrington College of Business, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United StatesShidler College of Business, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United StatesFaculty of Business and Economics, University of Basel, Basel, SwitzerlandCollege of Sports Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South KoreaMany tasks in everyday life (e.g., making an accurate decision, completing job tasks, and searching for product information) are extrinsically motivated (i.e., the task is performed to gain a benefit) and require mental effort. Prior research shows that the cognitive resources needed to perform an extrinsically motivated task are allocated pre-task. The pre-task allocation of mental resources tends to be conservative, because mental effort is costly. Consequently, there are mental energy deficits when the use of mental resources exceeds the allocated amount. This research provides evidence for post-task mental energy replenishment. The amount of resource replenishment is a function of the size of the mental energy deficit and the favorability of the cost-benefit trade-off experienced at the completion of the task (i.e., the value of the reward given the energy investment). The findings have implications for how cognitive resources management influences the availability of mental energy on a moment-to-moment basis.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.717414/fullcognitive resourcesmental energytask rewardstask completionextrinsic motivation |
| spellingShingle | Xiang Wang Chris Janiszewski Yanmei Zheng Juliano Laran Wonseok Eric Jang Deriving Mental Energy From Task Completion Frontiers in Psychology cognitive resources mental energy task rewards task completion extrinsic motivation |
| title | Deriving Mental Energy From Task Completion |
| title_full | Deriving Mental Energy From Task Completion |
| title_fullStr | Deriving Mental Energy From Task Completion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deriving Mental Energy From Task Completion |
| title_short | Deriving Mental Energy From Task Completion |
| title_sort | deriving mental energy from task completion |
| topic | cognitive resources mental energy task rewards task completion extrinsic motivation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.717414/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xiangwang derivingmentalenergyfromtaskcompletion AT chrisjaniszewski derivingmentalenergyfromtaskcompletion AT yanmeizheng derivingmentalenergyfromtaskcompletion AT julianolaran derivingmentalenergyfromtaskcompletion AT wonseokericjang derivingmentalenergyfromtaskcompletion |