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Poster Session A: Tuesday, August 12, 1:30 – 4:30 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Exertion of Effort Reduces the Willingness to Exert Effort for Rewards in the Future

Selma Lugtmeijer¹, Matthew A.J. Apps; ¹University of Birmingham

Presenter: Selma Lugtmeijer

To obtain rewards, we often have to decide whether exerting the effort that’s required is ‘worth it’. Sometimes we make these decisions at one moment in time, about effort we will exert much later. E.g., deciding now whether to review a paper in two weeks time. Yet, the motivation to exert effort is susceptible to fatigue, with recent evidence showing that exerting effort increases fatigue and reduces the motivation to exert effort just seconds later. However, little is known about how much these momentary fluctuations affect decisions to exert effort for reward in the future. In this study, participants exerted different levels of physical force (10% or 48% of their max grip strength for 5s), to induce fatigue. After each initial squeeze they made two decisions, choosing between a fixed low-effort/low-reward option and a variable higher-effort/higher-reward offer. Critically, these decisions were about effort they would have to exert for reward after the task, not immediately following their choices. We found that after a high-effort squeeze people were more likely to choose the rest option than after a low-effort squeeze. These findings suggest that people are unable to ignore momentary fluctuations in fatigue when making decisions about future effort, highlighting the implications of fatigue for motivation.

Topic Area: Reward, Value & Social Decision Making

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