Figure 1.
Cognitive effort discounting (COG-ED) paradigm.
Task structure including N-back practice, effort discounting, and N-back re-do.
Table 1.
N-back response times (correct trials), d' (all trials) for YA and OA.
Table 2.
Self-report NASA Task Load Index Scores (scale: 0–21) by level, N.
Figure 2.
Subjective value of rewards for task engagement across multiple levels of the N-back for OA and YA.
Subjective value decreases linearly with load (N). OA discount more than YA at all levels (N = 2–4). SE are shown. nYA = 25 participants * 6 levels = 150 and nOA = 25 participant * 4 levels = 100. Data also included for illustrative purposes in [51].
Table 3.
Multilevel models of subjective value, as predicted by performance (d'), mean response time (mRT, seconds), and N-back level.
Figure 3.
Area under the cognitive effort discounting curve predicts Need for Cognition.
Need for Cognition as predicted by Area Under the Curve of subjective value for levels N = 2–4 of the N-back. n = 50 participants.
Table 4.
Multilevel model of subjective value, as predicted by performance (d'), mean response time (mRT, seconds), and N-back level.
Figure 4.
Area under the cognitive effort discounting curve predicts delay discounting.
Area under the curves: for effort, averaged across $1 and $5 offers, levels N = 2–4; for delay, averaged across $1,000 and $25,000 offers, delays from one week to ten years. n = 33 participants.