title: The economics of cognitive effort.
abstract: If cognitive effort indexes opportunity costs, it should be investigated like other cost factors including risk and delay. We discuss recent methodological advances in behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, highlighting our own work in measuring the subjective (economic) value of cognitive effort. We discuss the implications of Kurzban et al.'s proposal and how some of its predictions may be untestable without behavioral economic formalisms.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899. jawestbrook@wustl.edu http://ccpweb.wustl.edu/westbrook.html tbraver@artsci.wustl.edu http://ccpweb.wustl.edu/braver.html.
authors.forename: John Andrew
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Westbrook
authors.forename: Todd S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Braver
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D005222:Mental Fatigue / Q000523:psychology*; D008960:Models, Psychological