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Mental effort and fatigue as consequences of monotony

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2013

Pavel N. Prudkov*
Affiliation:
Ecomon Ltd., Selskohosyastvennaya Street 12-A, Moscow, Russia. pnprudkov@gmail.com

Abstract

Kurzban et al. associate mental effort and fatigue with a hypothetical mechanism able to estimate the utilities of possible actions and then select the action with a maximal utility. However, this approach faces fundamental problems. In my opinion, mental effort and fatigue are results of a conflict between the monotony of long-term activities and the novelty-processing systems.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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