ABSTRACT
Many behaviors are goal-directed and effortful in the sense that goals are first consciously chosen by the decision maker and then attaining the chosen goal is not straightforward, but rather involves substantial effort to pursue after it has been chosen. Studying or weight-control regimens, childrearing tasks, business-or work-related projects, and planful shopping expeditions are all examples of such effortful goal-directed behaviors. Under such conditions, past experience influences the process by which decisions are reached and enacted by individuals in many ways: through cognitive (memoryrelated and evaluative), motivational, and volitional means. In this chapter, we consider these different influences of past experience, summarizing what is known as well as highlighting interesting opportunities for future research.
