# When do we experience effort?

## TL;DR

The paper explores how effort is experienced when resisting emotional signals like hunger or anxiety, offering a new perspective beyond cost-based theories.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel framework for understanding effort as a response to affective signals rather than a measurable cost.

## Key findings

- Effort arises from resisting affective signals like hunger or anxiety.
- Cost-based accounts are insufficient for explaining the experience of effort.
- The paper argues against reifying effort as a standalone entity.

## Abstract

We contend that the experience of effort should be understood as the experience arising from resisting an affective behaviour-guiding signal such as hunger, pain, fatigue, or anxiety. We argue that this provides a more satisfactory account than the cost based accounts that have become popular. We distinguish an account of the experience of effort from an account of effort itself, and argue against the reification of efforts.