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Viliam_Bur comments on Kurzban et al. on opportunity cost models of mental fatigue and resource-based models of willpower - Less Wrong Discussion
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Comments (17)
Here is an experiment with different predictions for the models:
Imagine a person doing some work for 8 hours. Based on experience from previous days, you know that if they get home, they will be "too exhausted to do anything". However, you ask them to stay and continue doing the same work for next 2 hours. As a reward, they will be allowed to leave the work 3 hours sooner tomorrow. (Let's suppose their time is fungible; i.e. they have nothing scheduled specifically for today evening).
Resource model: The person will not be able to work anymore, because their mental resources are depleted.
Opportunity cost model: The person will be able to continue to work, because this is the best option they have now.
(Keeping doing what they did would be the best choice; taking a nap and doing something else would be the next best choice; trying to switch to something completely different without taking the nap would be the worst choice.)
I can tell you that I have worked definitely at my 'resource' limit a lot of times the last months and it definitely wasn't due to insufficient motivation but to plain exhaustion.
Actually when the motivation for the main task subsided I'd temporarily switch to a more rewarding intermediate task like lesswrong, thus the opportunity model itsn't wrong either.
But there comes a time when Isshoukenmei takes its toll. When you have to realize that your concentration is slipping after 14 hours and all further effort nearly ruins previous work.
But I have to agree that this amount of exhaustion is seldom nowadays and in your example of the 'exhausting' 8 hour work-day the 'exhaustion' most likely is from dissatisfaction, lack of reward or misapplication of pressure.