Demand Selection Task

Background

The basic claim of the 'law of least mental effort' is that people tend to avoid mentally strenous actions to accomplish their goals, particularly in the face of less demanding alternatives. The Demand Selection Task (DST) is a cognitive-behavioral task to measure these demand avoidance tendencies. It was published by Wouter Kool and colleagues in 2010.

The basic cognitive tasks to perform are a parity and a magnitude categorization task of digits 1-9 (except for 5). When performing the parity tasks, participants need to sort the digits into odd and even numbers. When performing the magnitude task, participants need to sort the digits into numbers that are smaller than 5 and those that are larger. Usually the color of the digit signals which task to perform: blue digits signal parity trials, purple digits signal magnitude trials. Rounds of trials with digits that rarely change their colors (same task is repeatedly performed) are considered easier than those with a many color changes (frequent task shifts).

Before each trial, participants get the choice between two colorful patterns. One of the patterns is tied to the higher cognitive demand task (results in frequent color changes) and the other is tied to the easier cognitive demand task (color changes rarely). A key feature of the Demand Selection Task is that the demand tied to each pattern is never made explicit to the participants, instead they have to learn the consequences of their choices by doing.

Task Procedure

After learning the two different tasks, participants work through a training block of 5 parity and 5 magnitude tasks, presented in a random order. If performance is lower than 90% correct, the training block is repeated.

The test phase consists of 8 blocks that run 75 trials each; each block is randomly (without replacement) assigned 2 out of 16 possible patterns. One of the patterns is randomly assigned to run the 'high demand' condition (there is a 90% chance that the digit color changes from one trial to the next) and the other pattern is randomly assigned to run the 'low demand' condition (there is a 90% chance that the digit color stays the same from trial to trial). The digits appear superimposed on the chosen pattern. Participants are encouraged to try out the different patterns but also to stay with one if they like it. If participants see a blue digit, they must perform the parity task. If the digit is odd, they should press the left response key 'A', if the digit is even, they should press the right response key 'S'. Purple digits on the other hand signal magnitude trials: if the digit is smaller than 5, participants should press the left 'A' key, if it's larger than 5, they should press the right 'S' key. Error feedback is given for 500ms.

What it Measures

The Demand Selection Task (DST) is a cognitive-behavioral task to measure cognitive demand avoidance

Psychological domains

• Executive Control: Collection of "top-down" mental processes used to manage and regulate thoughts and actions
• Cognitive Flexibility: Shift to a new rule when the previous rule no longer applies
• Working Memory: storing and selecting the respective response button assignments for the different categorization tasks
• Sustained Attention: Maintaining focus over a repetitive series of trials without 'drifting'

Main Performance Metrics

• proportion selected low demand pattern: the overall proportion of selecting the low demand option across all blocks and trials; measure of demand avoidance

Psychiatric Conditions

Demand Avoidance has been found to be enhanced or reduced in the following patient groups

• Schizophrenia
• Depression (Major Depressive Disorder)
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Anxiety Disorders
• Compulsive Behaviors & OCD

References

Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Demand Selection Task.

---

Botvinick, M. (2007). Conflict monitoring and decision making: Reconciling two perspectives on anterior cingulate function. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(4), 356-66.

Kool W, McGuire JT, Rosen ZB, Botvinick MM (2010) Decision making and the avoidance of cognitive demand. J Exp Psychol Gen 139: 665–682.

McGuire JT, Botvinick MM (2010) Prefrontal cortex, cognitive control, and the registration of decision costs. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107: 7922–7926.

Schouppe, Ridderinkhof, Verguts, & Notebaert. (2014). Context-specific control and context selection in conflict tasks. Acta Psychologica, 146, 63-66.

Gold, J., Kool, M., Botvinick, W., Hubzin, M., August, L., & Waltz, S. (2015). Cognitive effort avoidance and detection in people with schizophrenia. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 15(1), 145-154.

Dunn, T., Lutes, D., & Risko, E. (2016). Metacognitive Evaluation in the Avoidance of Demand. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2016.