Dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task-switching training in middle childhood
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 frame...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2014-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01275/full |
| _version_ | 1811305209278758912 |
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| author | Sandra eDörrenbächer Philipp Matthias Müller Johannes eTröger Jutta eKray |
| author_facet | Sandra eDörrenbächer Philipp Matthias Müller Johannes eTröger Jutta eKray |
| author_sort | Sandra eDörrenbächer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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 to 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:22:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6ffa801997d64e84974fd72814ebda17 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T08:22:32Z |
| publishDate | 2014-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-6ffa801997d64e84974fd72814ebda172022-12-22T02:54:37ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782014-11-01510.3389/fpsyg.2014.01275110859Dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task-switching training in middle childhoodSandra eDörrenbächer0Philipp Matthias Müller1Johannes eTröger2Jutta eKray3Saarland UniversitySaarland UniversitySaarland UniversitySaarland UniversityAlthough 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 to 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.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01275/fullMotivationcognitive controltrainingtransfertask switchingmiddle childhood |
| spellingShingle | Sandra eDörrenbächer Philipp Matthias Müller Johannes eTröger Jutta eKray Dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task-switching training in middle childhood Frontiers in Psychology Motivation cognitive control training transfer task switching middle childhood |
| title | Dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task-switching training in middle childhood |
| title_full | Dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task-switching training in middle childhood |
| title_fullStr | Dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task-switching training in middle childhood |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task-switching training in middle childhood |
| title_short | Dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task-switching training in middle childhood |
| title_sort | dissociable effects of game elements on motivation and cognition in a task switching training in middle childhood |
| topic | Motivation cognitive control training transfer task switching middle childhood |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01275/full |
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