Is the brain a resource-cheapskate?

Any action requires energy. The body's muscles need energy in order to contract and the neurons in one's brain need energy in order to function. In the current paper we will discuss two presumably contradicting bodies of research. The first suggests that the brain invests minimal effort in high-demand tasks. The second suggests that we constantly spread our mental energy. We will refer to these findings and suggest some important rules that govern the consumption of mental energy.

[1]  A. Henik,et al.  The effect of a preceding cue on the conflict solving mechanism. , 2013, Experimental psychology.

[2]  Itiel E Dror,et al.  Older Adults Use Mental Representations That Reduce Cognitive Load: Mental Rotation Utilizes Holistic Representations and Processing , 2005, Experimental aging research.

[3]  W. James THE ENERGIES OF MEN. , 1907, Science.

[4]  Scott T. Grafton,et al.  Wandering Minds: The Default Network and Stimulus-Independent Thought , 2007, Science.

[5]  J. Smallwood,et al.  The restless mind. , 2006, Psychological bulletin.

[6]  R. Baumeister,et al.  Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: willpower is more than a metaphor. , 2007, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[7]  M. Botvinick,et al.  The intrinsic cost of cognitive control. , 2013, The Behavioral and brain sciences.

[8]  Nilli Lavie,et al.  Selective attention and cognitive control: dissociating attentional functions through different types of load , 1998 .

[9]  K. Stratos,et al.  Constrained Optimization , 2018, Design Optimization using MATLAB and SOLIDWORKS.

[10]  Nilli Lavie,et al.  The role of perceptual load in visual awareness , 2006, Brain Research.

[11]  A. Treisman Strategies and models of selective attention. , 1969, Psychological review.

[12]  Nigel Harvey Depletable resources: necessary, in need of fair treatment, and multi-functional. , 2013, The Behavioral and brain sciences.

[13]  Joseph T. McGuire,et al.  Decision making and the avoidance of cognitive demand. , 2010, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[14]  J Tzelgov,et al.  Specifying the relations between automaticity and consciousness: a theoretical note. , 1997, Consciousness and cognition.

[15]  William C. Ogden,et al.  Letter encoding is an obligatory but capacity-demanding operation. , 1981 .

[16]  Anne K Gutmann,et al.  Constrained optimization in human running , 2006, Journal of Experimental Biology.

[17]  M. Inzlicht,et al.  Why self-control seems (but may not be) limited , 2014, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[18]  D. Kahneman,et al.  Tests of the automaticity of reading: dilution of Stroop effects by color-irrelevant stimuli. , 1983, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[19]  David G. Wilson,et al.  2. Constrained Optimization , 2005 .

[20]  A. Henik,et al.  Evidence for task conflict in the Stroop effect. , 2007, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[21]  N. Lavie Distracted and confused?: Selective attention under load , 2005, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[22]  N. Lavie Perceptual load as a necessary condition for selective attention. , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[23]  D. Algom,et al.  Selective attention improves under stress: implications for theories of social cognition. , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[24]  Nilli Lavie,et al.  The role of perceptual load in inattentional blindness , 2007, Cognition.

[25]  D. Navon Resources—a theoretical soup stone? , 1984 .

[26]  Angela L. Duckworth,et al.  An opportunity cost model of subjective effort and task performance. , 2013, The Behavioral and brain sciences.