The Resource Pool is Dry: A Model for Surfing the Waves of Energy

Abstract

Exhaustion impedes all humans from achieving their goals, be they during experiments or in daily life. The notion of mental resources has provided substantive discourse on attentional failures and operational mishaps. However, without empirical validation, we cannot assess whether the “resource” is an emergent or contrived phenomenon. We must refute the notion that it is an unspoken Law of Resources. In this paper we celebrate the contributions of the resource and issue a long-needed challenge – grounding it in psychophysiological reality. We outline the initial developments of a dynamic neural energetics model towards that goal. The fundamental question we pose is this – can we expand the capacity of resource theory? Emerging methods are discussed to measure energy waves, a more intuitive and testable metaphor. Our theory merges thermodynamic, information-theoretic, neuroscientific, and dynamical systems approaches into a single framework that argues “limitations” stand in paradox with energization methods.