increases (Franzini, 2005; Franzini, Zoccoli, Cianci, & Lenzi, 1996; Herman & Bassetti,
2002), particularly to the amygdala, anterior cortex, pontine tegumentum, left thalamus,
and right parietal operculum (Maquet, 1995; Maquet et al., 1996). These areas as well as
the hippocampal formation appear significantly activated on PET scans (Maquet, 2000).
3. Effort and arousal
Researchers have distinguished “three types of energetical supply or resources”
that are involved in human information processing (Sanders, 1983, p. 74). These have
become known as energetic pools (Sergeant, Oosterlaan, & van der Meere, 1999, p. 77).
The first is effort, which is said to be “mobilized in response to the changing demands of
the tasks in which one engages” (Kahneman, 1973, p. 26). It is “conceived of as the
necessary energy to meet the demands of a task” (Sergeant et al., 1999, p. 77) and is
responsible for controlling the other two pools (Pribram & McGuiness, 1975; Sanders,
1983). Arousal is associated with phasic readiness to act and refers to “energy
mobilization of the organism” (Sanders, 1983, p. 116). Activation is described as “tonic
physiological readiness to respond” (Pribram & McGuinness, 1975). The effort and
arousal pools are most relevant here.
The concept of effort was developed to explain the fact that increased motivation
can improve an individual’s performance on a task (Kahneman, 1973). People exert more
effort when they are motivated by factors such as time constraints, increased task
difficulty, or the promise of incentives or rewards (Lohr, 1999). The pupils dilate during
the exertion of effort (Kahneman, 1973; cf. Hess, 1965; Hess, 1964), but only to a point.
Then they actually constrict (Granholm, Asarnow, Sarkin & Dykes, 1996; cf. Miller,
preliminary draft (9/24/2006)