Task performance errors and rewards affect voluntary task choices

Spitzer, Markus; Musslick, Sebastian; Janz, Janina; Kiesel, Andrea; Dignath, David · 2024 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1007/s00426-023-01908-7

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigates how voluntary task choices are influenced by reward differences, task performance error rates, and immediate error commission, specifically when rewards are contingent on task selection rather than performance accuracy. The research addresses a gap in the literature regarding whether humans consider cognitive control costs (e.g., error rates) when monetary incentives are decoupled from task execution. The authors aimed to determine if these factors operate additively or multiplicatively within a joint utility function guiding decision-making, based on the Expected Value of Control theory. The researchers conducted three experiments using a novel voluntary task-switching paradigm with a double-registration procedure. Participants first selected between a motion discrimination task and a color discrimination task, receiving immediate monetary rewards for their choice before performing the task. This design ensured rewards were independent of accuracy. The reward for the selected task dynamically decreased with repeated choices, while the alternative task’s reward remained constant, creating varying reward differences. Experiment 1 established baseline effects, while Experiments 2 and 3 manipulated signal-to-noise ratios to create consistent differences in task difficulty and associated error rates. Data were analyzed using logistic mixed models to assess the probability of switching tasks as a function of reward difference, previous trial errors, and task identity. The results demonstrated that voluntary task selection was significantly influenced by reward differences; participants were more likely to switch to the alternative task as its relative reward increased. Crucially, task performance also affected choices independently of rewards. Participants required larger reward differences to switch to a task associated with higher error rates compared to one with lower error rates, indicating that cognitive costs associated with difficulty deterred switching. However, commissioning an error on the immediately preceding trial ($n-1$) did not significantly influence the probability of switching to the alternative task. This finding contrasts with previous studies where rewards were performance-contingent, suggesting that immediate error feedback does not drive task switching when it does not impact monetary gain. These findings contribute to the understanding of effort-based decision-making by showing that humans integrate both external rewards and internal cognitive costs (error rates) into their task selection strategies, even when rewards are not tied to performance. The study supports the view that task choices are guided by a joint utility function weighing benefits against control costs. However, the lack of effect from immediate errors suggests that only aggregated performance metrics, rather than trial-by-trial errors, inform voluntary switching decisions in this context. This distinction clarifies the mechanisms underlying flexible behavior and informs computational models of control allocation.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-25; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• task switching