UC Riverside

We usually strive to do tasks in the easiest way possible. What makes a task easy or difficult is poorly understood, though. I started this line of research by arguing that the prerequisite to study a construct – including the perception of task difficulty - is to measure it. I developed a method to measure the perceived difficulty of a task. I also showed that people can reliably compare the difficulty of different kinds of tasks. Next, I tested different hypotheses that could explain this ability. Given that I did not find compelling support for any of the examined hypotheses, I then proposed that difficulty is represented at a more abstract level than what scientists have been searching for. Finally, I tested the effect of task difficulty on task scheduling and showed that people prefer doing easy tasks first, unless the tasks are physical.