Effort Is More Than Suboptimal: Positive Aspects of Motivation and Engagement in Neuropsychological Assessment

Abstract

The topic of effort in neuropsychological assessment has received considerable research attention in the last three decades, though the vast majority of empirical reports in this literature have focused on negative aspects of task engagement, often called suboptimal effort. We prefer the term subnormal effort in place of suboptimal effort, as the typical engagement in testing is normal but rarely optimal. In a recent paper (Hill and Aita, Appl Neuropsychol Adult 25(4):312–317, 2018), we reviewed and advanced a new perspective on a set of old ideas that embody the intersection between positive neuropsychology and task engagement in clinical neuropsychology. In this chapter, we continue to develop and expand on these ideas with a focus on intrinsic (individual differences) and extrinsic (contextual) factors that may tap into the “other side” of effort, which we term hyper-normal effort. Specifically, we review and discuss (1) the intersection of positive neuropsychology and effort through exploring the concept of hyper-normal effort, (2) the rationale of studying positive aspects of effort and possible applications, (3) factors associated with suboptimal effort, (4) known and prospective factors associated with hyper-normal effort, and (5) possible methods of studying hyper-normal effort.