The value of progress feedback in effort-based decision-making

Effort is a critical component of daily goal pursuit, both as the work invested in achieving a goal and as the subjective experience that accompanies it. While the roles of work and reward have been extensively studied in decision-making, relatively little is known about the influence of other cognitive and motor contributors when selecting between actions. Progress feedback, i.e., information on one’s progress towards a goal, has been suggested to be intrinsically valuable. In this pre-registered study, we tested whether people preferred physical work involving progress feedback, even when it was accompanied by more work. We further examined whether preference for progress feedback could be explained by lower perceived effort, improved effort exertion characteristics, or mental health factors. Participants (n=114) performed an online effort-based decision-making task, choosing between options with progress feedback (PF+) or with no progress feedback (PF-). We recorded continuous movements during effort exertion with mouse-tracking. Overall, participants preferred to receive progress feedback. Preference for progress was positively associated with social motivation, as measured using the Apathy Motivation Index, but not with traits previously linked to information seeking. At a group-level, participants did not rate PF+ trials as less effortful compared to PF-. Progress feedback did not improve effort exertion efficiency, as movements in PF+ were more variable and less smooth than movements in PF-. These results suggest that progress feedback is innately valuable despite its potential costs. The correlation with social motivation highlights a potential link to external validation, which warrants testing in future studies.