Mixed evidence for energy conservation: Task difficulty increases energy investment but does not determine it

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Richter ◽  
Josephine Stanek
Keyword(s):  
Energy Conservation ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Energy Investment ◽  
Conservation Task

scholarly journals Energy investment and motivation: The additive impact of task demand and reward value on exerted force in hand grip tasks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joséphine C. Stanek ◽  
Michael Richter
Keyword(s):  
Energy Conservation ◽  
Muscle Force ◽  
Additive Effect ◽  
Task Demand ◽  
Energy Investment ◽  
Strong Link ◽  
Hand Grip ◽  
Motivational Intensity ◽  
Reward Value ◽  
And Task

AbstractAccording to motivational intensity theory, individuals are motivated to conserve energy when pursuing goals. They should invest only the energy required for success and disengage if success is not important enough to justify the required energy. We tested this hypothesis in five experiments assessing exerted muscle force in isometric hand grip tasks as indicator of energy investment. Our results provided mixed evidence for motivational intensity theory. Corroborating its predictions, energy investment was a function of task demand. However, we did not find evidence for the predicted disengagement, and we observed that participants exerted in most conditions more force than required. Furthermore, the data could be better explained by a model that predicted an additive effect of task demand and success importance than by models drawing on motivational intensity theory’s predictions. These results illustrate the strong link between energy investment and task demand but challenge motivational intensity theory’s primacy of energy conservation.

Concept of Equivalence Relations and Conservation of Liquid in Preschool Children

1978 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 991-1001
Author(s):  
Eileen Brockman Goggin ◽  
William F. Landers ◽  
Alvah C. Bittner
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Set Theory ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Theory Model ◽  
Equivalence Relations ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Assessment Procedure ◽  
Conservation Task ◽  
Age Range

The acquisition of logic involved in the concept of equivalence, and its relationship to attainment of conservation of liquid were studied. Equivalence was operationalized according to set theory model—as relationships characterized by three logical properties of reflexivity (R), symmetry (S), and transitivity (T). Each property was assessed by two procedures. Twenty-eight children (age range 4–0 to 5–5) were administered: (1) Pretest for relational terms, (2) Equivalence Battery, (3) Liquid Conservation Task, (4) Liquid Conservation Task—Reduced saliency condition. The three logical properties (each assessed two ways) do not develop in an invariant ordinal sequence (R S T); however, a “psychometric” order of increasing task difficulty did emerge. For all three abilities, one assessment procedure was consistently easier than the other. A significant positive relationship between age and degree of mastery of equivalence logic was found. In this study, complete mastery of equivalence was a necessary condition for attainment of conservation. The data support the proposition that saliency of perceptual change in a conservation task may be a roadblock to attainment of conservation in some preschool children, indirectly suggesting that mastery of equivalence logic probably is not a sufficient condition for conservation.

Skipping Breakfast Affects the Early Steps of Cognitive Processing

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-118
Author(s):  
Andrés Antonio González-Garrido ◽  
Jacobo José Brofman-Epelbaum ◽  
Fabiola Reveca Gómez-Velázquez ◽  
Sebastián Agustín Balart-Sánchez ◽  
Julieta Ramos-Loyo
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Brain Potentials ◽  
Brain Functioning ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Skipping Breakfast

Abstract. It has been generally accepted that skipping breakfast adversely affects cognition, mainly disturbing the attentional processes. However, the effects of short-term fasting upon brain functioning are still unclear. We aimed to evaluate the effect of skipping breakfast on cognitive processing by studying the electrical brain activity of young healthy individuals while performing several working memory tasks. Accordingly, the behavioral results and event-related brain potentials (ERPs) of 20 healthy university students (10 males) were obtained and compared through analysis of variances (ANOVAs), during the performance of three n-back working memory (WM) tasks in two morning sessions on both normal (after breakfast) and 12-hour fasting conditions. Significantly fewer correct responses were achieved during fasting, mainly affecting the higher WM load task. In addition, there were prolonged reaction times with increased task difficulty, regardless of breakfast intake. ERP showed a significant voltage decrement for N200 and P300 during fasting, while the amplitude of P200 notably increased. The results suggest skipping breakfast disturbs earlier cognitive processing steps, particularly attention allocation, early decoding in working memory, and stimulus evaluation, and this effect increases with task difficulty.

P300 Amplitude and Topography in an Autobiographical Oddball Paradigm Involving Simulated Amnesia

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoinette R. Miller ◽  
J. Peter Rosenfeld ◽  
Matthew Soskins ◽  
Marianne Jhee
Keyword(s):  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
P300 Amplitude ◽  
Oddball Paradigm ◽  
Amplitude Difference ◽  
P300 Component ◽  
Oddball Task

Abstract The P300 component of the event-related potential was recorded during two blocks of an autobiographical oddball task. All participants performed honestly during the first block (Phone), i.e., the oddball stimuli were phone numbers. During the second block (Birthday), in which the oddball stimuli were participants' birthdays, a Truth group (N = 13) performed honestly and a Malinger group (N = 14) simulated amnesia. Amnesia simulation significantly reduced P300 amplitudes, both between groups and within the Malinger group (Phone vs. Birthday), possibly because of an increase in task difficulty in the Malinger condition. Analysis of scaled amplitudes also indicated a trend for a feigning-related alteration in P300 topography. Bootstrapping of peak-to-peak amplitudes detected significantly more (93%) Malinger individuals than bootstrapping of baseline-to-peak amplitudes (64%). Bootstrapping also provided evidence of a feigning-related amplitude difference between oddball stimuli (i.e., Phone > Birthday) in 71% of Malinger group individuals. In this comparison, the peak-to-peak measure also performed significantly better in intraindividual diagnostics.

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