Willing to think hard? The subjective value of cognitive effort in children

Nicolas Chevalier

doi:10.1111/cdev.12805

Willing to think hard? The subjective value of cognitive effort in children

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Cognitive effort is costly and this cost likely influences the activities that children engage in. Yet, little is known about how school-age children perceive cognitive effort. The subjective value of cognitive effort, that is, how valuable or costly effort is perceived, was investigated in 73 7- to 12-year-olds using an effort-discounting paradigm. In two studies, it varied with task difficulty but not age, was predicted by actual effort engagement but not actual success, and related to trait interest in effortful activities and proactive control engagement. Children are sensitive to cognitive effort and use it to guide behaviors, suggesting that poor performance may often reflect reluctance to engage cognitive effort rather than low ability.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-13
Journal	Child Development
Early online date	11 Apr 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12805
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 11 Apr 2017

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

cognitive effort
need for cognition
cognitive control
executive function
children

Access to Document

10.1111/cdev.12805

ChevalierCD2017WillingToThinkHard
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Chevalier, N. (2017), Willing to Think Hard? The Subjective Value of Cognitive Effort in Children. Child Dev., which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12805/full. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Accepted author manuscript, 738 KB

Supporting cognitive and academic development in children at risk: Metacognitive executive function training in children from low socioeconomic background
Chevalier, N. (Principal Investigator), Auyeung, B. (Co-investigator) & Morey, C. (Co-investigator)
ESRC
1/09/16 → 3/02/20
Project: Research
Supporting Self-Regulation through cooperation in early year childhood
Chevalier, N. (Principal Investigator)
UK-based charities
1/02/15 → 31/01/16
Project: Research

Nicolas Chevalier
- nchevaliexseed.ed.acuk
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences - Reader
- Edinburgh Neuroscience
Person: Academic: Research Active

Cite this

@article{ac0b2ea8eb5f4767ab8a446d368cbb48,

title = "Willing to think hard? The subjective value of cognitive effort in children",

abstract = "Cognitive effort is costly and this cost likely influences the activities that children engage in. Yet, little is known about how school-age children perceive cognitive effort. The subjective value of cognitive effort, that is, how valuable or costly effort is perceived, was investigated in 73 7- to 12-year-olds using an effort-discounting paradigm. In two studies, it varied with task difficulty but not age, was predicted by actual effort engagement but not actual success, and related to trait interest in effortful activities and proactive control engagement. Children are sensitive to cognitive effort and use it to guide behaviors, suggesting that poor performance may often reflect reluctance to engage cognitive effort rather than low ability.",

keywords = "cognitive effort, need for cognition, cognitive control, executive function, children",

author = "Nicolas Chevalier",

year = "2017",

month = apr,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1111/cdev.12805",

language = "English",

pages = "1--13",

journal = "Child Development",

issn = "0009-3920",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Willing to think hard? The subjective value of cognitive effort in children

AU - Chevalier, Nicolas

PY - 2017/4/11

Y1 - 2017/4/11

N2 - Cognitive effort is costly and this cost likely influences the activities that children engage in. Yet, little is known about how school-age children perceive cognitive effort. The subjective value of cognitive effort, that is, how valuable or costly effort is perceived, was investigated in 73 7- to 12-year-olds using an effort-discounting paradigm. In two studies, it varied with task difficulty but not age, was predicted by actual effort engagement but not actual success, and related to trait interest in effortful activities and proactive control engagement. Children are sensitive to cognitive effort and use it to guide behaviors, suggesting that poor performance may often reflect reluctance to engage cognitive effort rather than low ability.

AB - Cognitive effort is costly and this cost likely influences the activities that children engage in. Yet, little is known about how school-age children perceive cognitive effort. The subjective value of cognitive effort, that is, how valuable or costly effort is perceived, was investigated in 73 7- to 12-year-olds using an effort-discounting paradigm. In two studies, it varied with task difficulty but not age, was predicted by actual effort engagement but not actual success, and related to trait interest in effortful activities and proactive control engagement. Children are sensitive to cognitive effort and use it to guide behaviors, suggesting that poor performance may often reflect reluctance to engage cognitive effort rather than low ability.

KW - cognitive effort

KW - need for cognition

KW - cognitive control

KW - executive function

KW - children

U2 - 10.1111/cdev.12805

DO - 10.1111/cdev.12805

M3 - Article

SN - 0009-3920

SP - 1

EP - 13

JO - Child Development

JF - Child Development

ER -

Willing to think hard? The subjective value of cognitive effort in children

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Supporting cognitive and academic development in children at risk: Metacognitive executive function training in children from low socioeconomic background

Supporting Self-Regulation through cooperation in early year childhood

Profiles

Nicolas Chevalier

Cite this