Motivational processes are complex and multifaceted, with both directional and activational
aspects. Behavioral activation and exertion of effort are functions that enable organisms to …

According to prominent models in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and economics,
effort (be it physical or mental) is costly: when given a choice, humans and non-human …

Stimulants such as methylphenidate are increasingly used for cognitive enhancement but
precise mechanisms are unknown. We found that methylphenidate boosts willingness to …

Mental effort is an elementary notion in our folk psychology and a familiar fixture in everyday
introspective experience. However, as an object of scientific study, mental effort has …

Cognitive effort has been implicated in numerous theories regarding normal and aberrant
behavior and the physiological response to engagement with demanding tasks. Yet, despite …

Why does performing certain tasks cause the aversive experience of mental effort and
concomitant deterioration in task performance? One explanation posits a physical resource …

It has long been assumed that people treat cognitive effort as costly, but also that such effort
costs may vary greatly across individuals. Individual differences in subjective effort could …

When someone asks,“How do you feel?”, your answer includes your bodily feelings as well
as your emotional feelings. Influential models of emotion view the embodiment of emotions …

The brain faces various computational tradeoffs, such as the stability-flexibility dilemma. The
major ascending neuromodulatory systems are well suited to dynamically regulate these …

Dopamine contributes to cognitive control through well-established effects in both the
striatum and cortex. Although earlier work suggests that dopamine affects cognitive control …