Sean Devine

McGill University | McGill · Department of Psychology

Individuals avoid spending cognitive effort unless expected rewards offset the perceived costs. Recent work employing tasks that provide explicit information about demands and incentives, suggests causal involvement of the Frontopolar Cortex (FPC) in effort-based decision-making. Using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), we examined whe...

Images of men in the media are becoming more muscular. The influence that the overrepresentation of idealized bodies in Western media plays on women’s body dissatisfaction has been well-documented, but less is known about how similar shifts in prevalence affect men. One idealized trait of masculinity is muscularity. In this study, we propose that p...

Multilevel modeling techniques have gained traction among experimental psychologists for their ability to account for dependencies in nested data structures. Increasingly, these techniques are extended to the analysis of binary data (e.g., correct or incorrect responses). Despite their popularity, the information in logistic multilevel models is of...

The now-classic goal-gradient hypothesis posits that organisms increase effort expenditure as a function of their proximity to a goal. Despite nearly a century having passed since its original formulation, goal-gradient-like behavior in human cognitive performance remains poorly understood: Are we more willing to engage in costly cognitive processi...

Alterations in learning and decision-making systems are thought to contribute to core features of anorexia nervosa (AN), a psychiatric disorder characterized by persistent dietary restriction and weight loss. Instrumental learning theory identifies a dual-system of habit and goal-directed decision-making, linked to model-free and model-based reinfo...

Introduction & BackgroundA key premise of rational choice prescribes that decision-makers ought to ignore irrelevant, inferior alternative options. Consider for example the choice between two wines, where the value of an option is computed across two dimensions: quality and price. When deliberating about which wine to choose, one’s propensity to ch...

Due in part to recent advances in software, such as Stan and the popular brms package in R, Bayesian multilevel modeling techniques have become increasingly popular. As researchers leverage these techniques to fit new models, information criteria—fit indices which provide information about a model’s fit to the data—play an important role in disambi...

The notion that humans avoid effortful action is one of the oldest and most persistent in psychology. Influential theories of effort propose that effort valuations are made according to a cost-benefit trade-off: we tend to invest mental effort only when the benefits outweigh the costs. While these models provide a useful conceptual framework, the a...

The now-classic goal gradient hypothesis posits that organisms increase effort expenditure as a function of their proximity to a goal. Despite nearly a century having passed since its original formulation, goal gradient-like behaviour in human cognitive performance remains poorly understood: are we more willing to engage in costly cognitive process...

Images of men in the media have been getting more muscular. The influence that the overrepresentation of idealized bodies in Western media plays on women’s body dissatisfaction has been well-documented, but less is known about how this process affects men. In this study, we proposed that prevalence-induced concept change (PICC) may be one of the co...

The notion that humans avoid effortful action is one of the oldest and most persistent in psychology. Influential theories of effort propose that effort valuations are made according to a cost-benefit trade-off: we tend to invest mental effort only when the benefits outweigh the costs. While these models provide a useful conceptual framework, the a...

A body of work spanning neuroscience, economics, and psychology indicates that decision-making is context-dependent, which means that the value of an option depends not only on the option in question, but also on the other options in the choice set—or the ‘context’. While context effects have been observed primarily in small-scale laboratory studie...

Prevalence-induced concept change describes a cognitive mechanism by which someone's definition of a concept shifts as the prevalence of instances of that concept changes. While this phenomenon has been established in young adults, it is unclear how it affects older adults. In this study, we explore how prevalence-induced concept change affects old...

People tend to avoid engaging in cognitively demanding tasks unless it is ‘worth our while’—that is, if the benefits outweigh the costs of effortful action. Yet, we seemingly partake in a variety of effortful mental activities (e.g. playing chess, completing Sudoku puzzles) because they impart a sense of progress. Here, we examine the possibility t...

Body dissatisfaction is pervasive among young women in Western countries. Among the many forces that contribute to body dissatisfaction, the overrepresentation of thin bodies in visual media has received notable attention. In this study, we proposed that prevalence-induced concept change may be one of the cognitive mechanisms that explain how beaut...

Multilevel modeling techniques have gained traction among experimental psychologists for their ability to account for dependencies in nested data structures, such as responses nested within participants during an experiment. Increasingly, these techniques are extended to the analysis of binary data (e.g., choices, accuracy). Despite their popularit...

A body of work spanning neuroscience, economics, and psychology indicates that decision-making is context-dependent, which means that the value of an option depends not only on the option in question, but also on the other options in the choice set—or the 'context'. While context effects have been observed primarily in small-scale laboratory studie...

Previous work suggests that lifespan developmental differences in cognitive control reflect maturational and aging-related changes in prefrontal cortex functioning. However, complementary explanations exist: It could be that children and older adults differ from younger adults in how they balance the effort of engaging in control against its potent...

People tend to avoid engaging in cognitively demanding tasks unless it is ‘worth our while’—that is, if the benefits outweigh the costs of effortful action. Yet, we seemingly partake in a variety of effortful mental activities (e.g. playing chess, completing Sudoku puzzles) because they impart a sense of progress. Here, we examine the possibility t...

Previous work suggests that lifespan developmental differences in cognitive control reflect maturational and aging-related changes in prefrontal cortex functioning. However, complementary explanations exist: It could be that children and older adults differ from younger adults in how they balance the effort of engaging in control against its potent...

Body dissatisfaction is pervasive among young women in Western countries. Among the many forces that contribute to body dissatisfaction, the overrepresentation of thin bodies in visual media has received notable attention. In this study, we proposed that prevalence-induced concept change may be one of the cognitive mechanisms that explain how beaut...

Over the last decade, research on cognitive control and decision‐making has revealed that individuals weigh the costs and benefits of engaging in or refraining from control and that whether and how they engage in these cost–benefit analyses may change across development and during healthy aging. In the present article, we examine how lifespan age d...

Over the last decade, research on cognitive control and decision-making has revealed that individuals weigh the costs and benefits of engaging in or refraining from control and that whether and how they engage in these cost-benefit analyses may change across development and during healthy aging. In the present article, we examine how lifespan age d...

Prevalence-induced concept change describes a cognitive mechanism by which someone’s definition of a concept shifts as the prevalence of instances of that concept changes. The phenomenon has real-world implications because this sensitivity to environmental characteristics may lead to substantial biases in judgements. While prevalence-induced concep...

Prevalence-induced concept change describes a cognitive mechanism by which someone’s definition of a concept shifts as the prevalence of instances of that concept changes. While this phenomenon has been established in young adults, it is unclear how it affects older adults. In this study, we explore how prevalence-induced concept change affects old...

Previous work suggests that lifespan developmental differences in cognitive control abilitiesmight be due to maturational and aging-related changes in prefrontal cortex functioning.However, there are other explanations: For example, it could be that children and older adults differ from younger adults in how they balance the effort of engaging in c...