How Effortful is Boredom? Studying Self-Control Demands Through Pupillometry (Registered Report Stage 1)
Year: 2023
Type: preprint
Study design: Study Protocol
Abstract: Self-control is essential for managing our actions, yet its exertion is perceived as effortful. Performing a task may require effort not only because of its inherent difficulty but also due to its potential for inducing boredom, as boredom has been shown to be self-control demanding by itself. So far, the extent of self-control demands during boredom and its temporal dynamics remain elusive. We will employ a multimethod approach to address this knowledge gap. Ninety-five participants will take part in an easy and hard version of the Stroop task. During both tasks, they will indicate several times their current sensation of task difficulty, boredom, boredom-related cognitive effort, difficulty-related cognitive effort, overall effort, and fatigue. We will test if pupil size, as a physiological indicator for cognitive effort, is predicted more accurately by overall cognitive effort (difficulty- and boredom-related) than by task-difficulty-related cognitive effort alone. This research will uncover the level of cognitive effort in experiencing boredom which is pertinent not only for self-control research but also to any research area dealing with boredom or the performance of repetitive tasks.
Institutions: University of Konstanz, UniDistance Suisse, University of Bern
Language: English
Topic: Mind wandering and attention
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4388910879