A COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS OF COGNITIVE EFFORT IN CHOICE

We examine the effort required to execute decision strategies and propose a set of elementary information processes (EIPs) (e.g., reads, additions, comparisons) as a common language for describing these strategies. Based upon these component processes, a model for measuring the effort required to execute a decision strategy is proposed which suggests that effort is a weighted sum of EIPs. We test several variants of this model by attempting to predict decision latencies and subjective reports of effort. The proposed weighted EIP model provides good predictions for response time and subjective effort, and estimates of the time and effort associated with each EIP seem plausible and consistent with those found in other cognitive tasks. The time and effort required by each EIP do not vary substantially across rules; however, there are significant individual differences. On balance, the EIP approach to conceptualizing and measuring the effort of executing a choice strategy receives strong support. © 1990.