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Representative publications
Yee, D.M., Prater Fahey, M., Cheng, Z.M., Leng, X., Kim, J., Tarlow, M., Mundy, K., Nevins, S., Shenhav, A. Neurocomputational mechanisms underlying the distinct motivational influences of reward and punishment on cognitive control. [Preprint]
Shenhav, A. (2024). The affective gradient hypothesis: An affect-centered account of motivated behavior. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 28(12):1089-1104. [Article]
Shenhav, A., Prater Fahey, M., & Grahek, I. (2021). Decomposing the motivation to exert mental effort. Current Directions in Psychological Science 30(4): 307-314. [Article]
*Frömer, R, *Lin, H., Dean Wolf, C.K., Inzlicht, M. & Shenhav, A. (2021). Expectations of reward and efficacy guide cognitive control allocation. Nature Communications, 12: 1030. [Article, Press Release, Supplement, Code]
Leng, X., Yee, D., Ritz, H., & Shenhav, A. (2021). Dissociable influences of reward and punishment on adaptive cognitive control. PLOS Computational Biology. [Article]
Grahek, I., Shenhav, A., Musslick, S., Krebs, R. M., & Koster, E. H. W. (2019). Motivation and Cognitive Control in Depression. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 102: 371-381. [Article, Code]
Inzlicht, M., Shenhav, A., & Olivola, C.Y. (2018). The effort paradox: Effort is both costly and valued. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 22(4): 337-349. [Article]
Shenhav, A., Musslick, S., Lieder, F., Kool, W., Griffiths, T.L., Cohen, J.D., & Botvinick, M.M. (2017). Toward a rational and mechanistic account of mental effort. Annual Reviews of Neuroscience 40: 99-124. [Article]
All publications
Yee, D.M., Prater Fahey, M., Cheng, Z.M., Leng, X., Kim, J., Tarlow, M., Mundy, K., Nevins, S., Shenhav, A. Neurocomputational mechanisms underlying the distinct motivational influences of reward and punishment on cognitive control. [Preprint]
Cheng, Z., Leng, X., Shenhav, A. (2025). Incentive Effects Capture Variability in Task-General Control Allocation. Proceedings of the 47th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. San Francisco, CA. [Paper].
Xu, A., Frömer, R., Wolff, W., Shenhav, A. Do you ever get tired of being wrong? The unique impact of feedback on subjective experiences of effort. [Preprint]
*Prater Fahey, M., *Yee, D.M., Leng, X., Tarlow, M., & Shenhav, A. (2025). Motivational context determines the impact of aversive outcomes on mental effort allocation. Cognition 254:105973. [Article]
Shenhav, A. (2024). The affective gradient hypothesis: An affect-centered account of motivated behavior. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 28(12):1089-1104. [Article]
Zhang, Y., Leng, X., & Shenhav, A. (2024). Make or break: The influence of expected challenges and rewards on the motivation and experience associated with cognitive effort exertion. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 36 (12): 2863–2885. [Article]
Bustamante, L.A., Oshinowo, T., Lee, J.R., Tong, E., Burton, A.R., Shenhav, A., Cohen, J.D., Daw, N.D. (2023). Effort Foraging Task reveals positive correlation between individual differences in the cost of cognitive and physical effort in humans and relationship to self-reported motivation and affect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120 (50): e2221510120.[Preprint]
Grahek, I., Leng, X., Prater Fahey, M., Yee, D., & Shenhav, A. (2022). Empirical and Computational Evidence for Reconfiguration Costs During Within-Task Adjustments in Cognitive Control. In Proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. Toronto, CA. [Paper].
Grahek, I., Frömer, R., Prater Fahey, M., & Shenhav, A. (2023). Learning when effort matters: Neural dynamics underlying updating and adaptation to changes in performance efficacy. Cerebral Cortex 33(5): 2395–2411. [Article]
Yee, D. M., Leng, X., Shenhav, A., & Braver, T. S. (2022). Aversive Motivation and Cognitive Control. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 133, 104493. [Article]
Shenhav, A., Prater Fahey, M., & Grahek, I. (2021). Decomposing the motivation to exert mental effort. Current Directions in Psychological Science 30(4): 307-314. [Article]
Leng, X., Yee, D., Ritz, H., & Shenhav, A. (2021). Dissociable influences of reward and punishment on adaptive cognitive control. PLOS Computational Biology. [Article]
*Frömer, R, *Lin, H., Dean Wolf, C.K., Inzlicht, M. & Shenhav, A. (2021). Expectations of reward and efficacy guide cognitive control allocation. Nature Communications, 12: 1030. [Article, Press Release, Supplement, Code]
Bustamante, L., Lieder, F., Musslick, S., Shenhav, A., Cohen, J.D. (2021). Learning to Overexert Cognitive Control in a Stroop Task. Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience. [Article]
Shenhav, A., Musslick, S., Botvinick, M. M., & Cohen, J. D. Misdirected vigor: Differentiating the control of value from the value of control. [Preprint; Target Article]
Ritz, H., DeGutis, J., Frank M.J., Esterman, M., & Shenhav, A. (2020). An evidence accumulation model of motivational and developmental influences over sustained attention. In Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. Toronto, CA. [Paper]
Leng, X., Ritz, H., Yee, D., & Shenhav, A. (2020). Dissociable influences of reward and punishment on adaptive cognitive control. In Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. Toronto, CA. [Paper]
Grahek I., Musslick S., & Shenhav A. (2020). A computational perspective on the roles of affect in cognitive control. International Journal of Psychophysiology 151: 25-34. [Article, Code].
Grahek, I., Shenhav, A., Musslick, S., Krebs, R. M., & Koster, E. H. W. (2019). Motivation and Cognitive Control in Depression. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 102: 371-381. [Article, Code]
Ritz, H., Shenhav, A. (2019) Parametric control of distractor-oriented attention. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Montreal, CA. [Paper]
Musslick S., Cohen, J.D., Shenhav A. (2019). Decomposing individual differences in cognitive control: A model-based approach. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Montreal, CA. [Paper]
Lieder, F., Shenhav, A., Musslick, S., & Griffiths, T. (2018). Rational metareasoning and the plasticity of cognitive control. PLOS Computational Biology 14(4): e1006043. [Article]
Inzlicht, M., Shenhav, A., & Olivola, C.Y. (2018). The effort paradox: Effort is both costly and valued. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 22(4): 337-349. [Article]
Musslick, S., Cohen, J.D., & Shenhav, A. (2018). Estimating the costs of cognitive control from task performance: theoretical validation and potential pitfalls. In Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Madison, WI: Cognitive Science Society. [Paper]
Shenhav, A., Musslick, S., Lieder, F., Kool, W., Griffiths, T.L., Cohen, J.D., & Botvinick, M.M. (2017). Toward a rational and mechanistic account of mental effort. Annual Reviews of Neuroscience 40: 99-124. [Article]
Shenhav, A., Botvinick, M.M., & Cohen, J.D. (2016). Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the value of control. Nature Neuroscience 19(10): 1286-1291. [Article; News & Views]
Shenhav, A. & Botvinick, M.M. (2013). Motivated action: New light on prefrontal-neuromodulatory circuits. Current Biology 23(4): R161-R163. [Commentary; Target Article]