PERCEIVED DIFFICULTY AND MOTIVATED COGNITIVE EFFORT IN A COMPUTER-SIMULATED FOREST FIREFIGHTING TASK

Two studies (ns 28 and 55) were conducted to investigate the extent to which proposed relationships between perceived difficulty and motivat ed cognitive effort generalise to realistic, complex, ill-defined, ong oing situations. A computerised microworld generator, Fire Chief, was used to create an appropriate cognitive task. Using complementary rese arch designs, no significant relationships were obtained between eithe r perceived difficulty or proximity to preferred difficulty and on-tas k motivated cognitive effort assessed by self-referent importance, int ended effort, and subjectively felt arousal. The implications of these findings for expectancy-value approaches to motivation are discussed. Attention is drawn to the extent to which the two studies illustrate the use of the Fire Chief microworld generator for the investigation o f psychological phenomena.