Man, my brain is tired: Linking depletion and cognitive effort in choice

Abstract

Understanding how limited resources influence decision making is important to theory and even more to important practice. I focus on two questions inspired by Baumeister et al.: (1) What exactly is depleted? and (2) Is it useful to employ Systems 1 and 2 in modeling depletion? I discuss possible candidates for depletion at both the neural and the cognitive process levels and argue that a dual process model of depletion makes a very clear set of testable predictions. Finally, I believe that understanding the causes of depletion is essential in designing helpful choice environments.