Dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task-switching training in middle childhood
نویسندگان
چکیده
Although motivational reinforcers are often used to enhance the attractiveness of trainings of cognitive control in children, little is known about how such motivational manipulations of the setting contribute to separate gains in motivation and cognitive-control performance. Here we provide a framework for systematically investigating the impact of a motivational video-game setting on the training motivation, the task performance, and the transfer success in a task-switching training in middle-aged children (8-11 years of age). We manipulated both the type of training (low-demanding/single-task training vs. high-demanding/task-switching training) as well as the motivational setting (low-motivational/without video-game elements vs. high-motivational/with video-game elements) separately from another. The results indicated that the addition of game elements to a training setting enhanced the intrinsic interest in task practice, independently of the cognitive demands placed by the training type. In the task-switching group, the high-motivational training setting led to an additional enhancement of task and switching performance during the training phase right from the outset. These motivation-induced benefits projected onto the switching performance in a switching situation different from the trained one (near-transfer measurement). However, in structurally dissimilar cognitive tasks (far-transfer measurement), the motivational gains only transferred to the response dynamics (speed of processing). Hence, the motivational setting clearly had a positive impact on the training motivation and on the paradigm-specific task-switching abilities; it did not, however, consistently generalize on broad cognitive processes. These findings shed new light on the conflation of motivation and cognition in childhood and may help to refine guidelines for designing adequate training interventions.
منابع مشابه
The effect of increase in task cognitive complexity on Iranian EFL learners’ accuracy and linguistic complexity: A test of Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis
Designing a task with a reasonable level of cognitive complexity has always been important for syllabus designers, teachers, as well as researchers. This is because task manipulation may lead to different results in oral production. The present study was an attempt to explore the effect of this manipulation - based on Robinson’s resource-directing model (reasoning demands, number of el...
متن کاملExamine the Effects of Training on Personality Formation and Mental Development of Childhood and Adolescence
The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of training on personality formation and mental development of childhood and adolescence. It is important to understand how children develop physically, socially, emotionally and intellectually to know that all areas of development are equally as important as each other, and that all impact on one another. Biological and cognitive changes ...
متن کاملExamine the Effects of Training on Personality Formation and Mental Development of Childhood and Adolescence
The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of training on personality formation and mental development of childhood and adolescence. It is important to understand how children develop physically, socially, emotionally and intellectually to know that all areas of development are equally as important as each other, and that all impact on one another. Biological and cognitive changes ...
متن کاملExamine the Effects of Training on Personality Formation and Mental Development of Childhood and Adolescence
The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of training on personality formation and mental development of childhood and adolescence. It is important to understand how children develop physically, socially, emotionally and intellectually to know that all areas of development are equally as important as each other, and that all impact on one another. Biological and cognitive changes ...
متن کاملExamine the Effects of Training on Personality Formation and Mental Development of Childhood and Adolescence
The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of training on personality formation and mental development of childhood and adolescence. It is important to understand how children develop physically, socially, emotionally and intellectually to know that all areas of development are equally as important as each other, and that all impact on one another. Biological and cognitive changes ...
متن کامل