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This page contains all the collected study materials and instructions from authors that we have compiled. We also include any comments from other contributors or follow up instructions that we have learned since the beginning of the project. Click "read more" below or choose the "Wiki" option above for further information. Contact Mark Brandt (m.j.brandt@tilburguniversity.edu) so that the materials can be made available on this website. **Abstract** Behavioral and economic theories have long maintained that actions are chosen so as to minimize demands for exertion or work, a principle sometimes referred to as the law of less work. The data supporting this idea pertain almost entirely to demands for physical effort. However, the same minimization principle has often been assumed also to apply to cognitive demand. The authors set out to evaluate the validity of this assumption. In 6 behavioral experiments, participants chose freely between courses of action associated with different levels of demand for controlled information processing. Together, the results of these experiments revealed a bias in favor of the less demanding course of action. The bias was obtained across a range of choice settings and demand manipulations and was not wholly attributable to strategic avoidance of errors, minimization of time on task, or maximization of the rate of goal achievement. It is remarkable that the effect also did not depend on awareness of the demand manipulation. Consistent with a motivational account, avoidance of demand displayed sensitivity to task incentives and covaried with individual differences in the efficacy of executive control. The findings reported, together with convergent neuroscientific evidence, lend support to the idea that anticipated cognitive demand plays a significant role in behavioral decision making. **Experiment 3 Materials are [available here][1]** Note: these materials will work on [Psychtoolbox][2]. For groups who want/need to use different software the materials will need to be adapted. **Example [completed project I][3] and [completed project II][4]** Update 5-30-2018: You can find code [here][5] that updates the Matlab code. The code is a combination of updates by Brady Wiggins and Gerit Pfuhl. [1]: http://openscienceframework.org/project/aJKPX/files/dst_multidecks.zip [2]: http://psychtoolbox.org [3]: https://osf.io/m0nod/ [4]: https://osf.io/uj9ub/ [5]: https://osf.io/hk2ac/
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