A combined experimental/individual differences examination of the influence of motivation on cognitive ability assessments.

Stephen Campbell, Xavier Celaya, Alexis S Torres, Gene A Brewer, Matthew K Robison

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Memory & cognition, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed

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3 · Its place in the literature

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

Periodic performance feedback and cognitive ability interactively mitigate the vigilance decrement.Attention, perception & psychophysics · 2026
Article

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Stephen CampbellDepartment of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA. scampbe6@nd.edu.

Xavier CelayaDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA.

Alexis S TorresDepartment of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.

Gene A BrewerDepartment of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA.

Matthew K RobisonDepartment of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.

Funding

Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences W911NF-18-S-0005U.S. Naval Research Laboratory N00173-22-2-C006

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The present study examined the influence of motivation on measures of cognitive ability within the domains of attention control, primary memory, secondary memory, and fluid intelligence. Three tasks measuring each respective domain were administered, allowing for latent-variable analyses of the cognitive constructs. Half of participants (n = 322) were assigned to an experimental condition in which they received trial-by-trial and/or block-by-block feedback about their performance in addition to normative information regarding their performance. The other half (n = 322) were assigned to a 'no feedback' condition. The constructs were differentially sensitive to the between-subjects manipulation, with all three attention control tasks showing significantly better performance with feedback, and two of the three secondary memory tasks showing performance improvements with feedback. None of the primary memory or fluid intelligence tasks were affected by feedback. Individual differences in self-reported motivation were only weakly correlated with performance in all four domains. We discuss the implications for these results for the testing of cognitive theories using individual differences, high- versus low-stakes testing, and the role of motivation in cognitive assessment.

Indexed as

AptitudeAttentionExecutive FunctionFeedback, PsychologicalIndividualityIntelligenceMemory, Long-TermMotivationAdolescentAdultFemaleHumansMaleYoung AdultAttention controlCognitive testingFluid intelligenceLong-term memoryMotivationShort-term memory

Identifiers

PMID41654699

DOI10.3758/s13421-025-01839-1

PMCPMC13407612

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LicenceCC BY

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.