Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36242777›Full record

ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2023

Cognitive Effort-Based Decision-Making Across Experimental and Daily Life Indices in Younger and Older Adults.

Jennifer L Crawford, Tammy English, Todd S Braver

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. How Outcome Framing and Feedback Influence Decision Patterns over Time.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Article
  2. Clear decisions: improved perceptual clarity reduces age-related decision-making deficits.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Generalized Encoding of the Relative Subjective Value of Cognitive Effort in the Dorsal ACC.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Measuring cognitive effort without difficulty.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2023
    Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Jennifer L CrawfordDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6392-361X
Tammy EnglishDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6666-4780
Todd S BraverDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2631-3393

Funding

AGING AND DEVELOPMENTT32AG000030 · NIA · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI DENISE HEAD, Jeffrey M Zacks · 1985 to 2026
$9.7M
Neural and motivational mechanisms of age-related change in emotion regulation: Administrative SupplementR01AG070139 · NIA · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI ENGLISH, TAMMY, THOMPSON, RENEE J · 2021 to 2025
$4.3M
Interdisciplinary Training in Cognitive, Computational and Systems Neuroscience (CCSN)T32NS115672 · NINDS · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI TODD S BRAVER, Camillo Padoa-Schioppa · 2020 to 2026
$1.8M
Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and AgingR24AG054355 · NIA · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI SAMANEZ LARKIN, GREGORY R · 2016 to 2020
$1.4M
Healthy Aging and the Cost of Cognitive EffortR21AG067295 · NIA · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI BRAVER, TODD S, PEELLE, JONATHAN E · 2020 to 2021
$433k
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG070139NIA NIH HHS R21 AG067295NIA NIH HHS R24 AG054355NIA NIH HHS T32 AG000030NIH HHS R24-AG054355, R21-AG067295, T32-AG000030 and T32-NS115672, R01-AG070139NINDS NIH HHS T32 NS115672
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThe study investigated whether cognitive effort decision-making measured via a neuroeconomic paradigm that manipulated framing (gain vs. loss outcomes), could predict daily life engagement in mentally demanding activities in both younger and older adults.

methodYounger and older adult participants (N = 310) completed the Cognitive Effort Discounting paradigm (Cog-ED), under both gain and loss conditions, to provide an experimental index of cognitive effort costs for each participant in each framing condition. A subset of participants (N = 230) also completed a 7-day Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) protocol measuring engagement in mentally demanding daily life activities.

resultsIn a large, online sample, we replicated a robust increase in cognitive effort costs among older, relative to younger, adults. Additionally, costs were found to be reduced in the loss relative to gain frame, although these effects were only reliable at high levels of task difficulty and were not moderated by age. Critically, participants who had lower effort costs in the gain frame tended to report engaging in more mentally demanding daily life activities, but the opposite pattern was observed in the loss frame. Further analyses demonstrated the specificity of reward-related cognitive motivation in predicting daily life mentally demanding activities. DISCUSSION: Together, these results suggest that cognitive effort costs, as measured through behavioral choice patterns in a neuroeconomic decision-making task, can be used to predict and explain engagement in mentally demanding activities during daily life among both older and younger adults.

Indexed as

MotivationRewardAgedCognitionDecision MakingEcological Momentary AssessmentHumansCognitive effortDecision-makingEcological Momentary AssessmentIncentive framing

Identifiers

PMID36242777
PMCPMC9890909

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.