Higher inhibitory control is required to escape the innate attraction to effort minimization. (November 2020) - Cheval, Boris
Abstract: Recent evidence suggests humans have an automatic attraction to effort minimization. Yet, how this attraction is associated with response inhibition is still unclear. Here, we used go/no-go tasks to capture inhibitory control in response to stimuli depicting physical activity versus physical inactivity in 59 healthy young individuals. Higher commission errors (i.e., failure to refrain a response to a "no-go" stimulus) indicated lower inhibitory control. Based on the energetic cost minimization theory, we hypothesized that participants would exhibit higher commission errors when responding to physical inactivity stimuli rather than physical activity stimuli. Mixed effects models showed that, compared to physical activity stimuli, participants exhibited higher commission errors when responding to stimuli depicting physical inactivity (odds ratio = 1.59, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.18 to 2.16, p = .003). These results suggest that physical inactivity stimuli might require high response inhibition. This study lends support for the hypothesis that an attraction to effort minimization might affect inhibitory processes in the presence of stimuli related to this minimization. The study pre-registration form can be found at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/RKYHB. Highlights: Compared to physical activity stimuli, participants are slower to go to physical inactivity stimuli. Participants exhibit higher commission errors for physical inactivity stimuli. Physical inactivity stimuli may attract attention and disrupt response inhibition. Physical inactivity stimuli might increase demand on the inhibitory control system. Theories should consider the automatic attraction toward physical inactivity.