The Effect of Incentives on Cognitive Processing of Text

Authors:
  • YKYasmine L. Konheim-Kalkstein
    Yasmine L. Konheim-Kalkstein
  • PBPaul van Den Broek
    Paul van Den Broek
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Abstract
This study examines the effect of incentives, a motivational manipulation, on cognitive processes of reading. Extrinsic motivation was manipulated through the use of monetary incentives to assess its effect on information processing in reading. One group of college students was paid for what they remembered from several narrative passages they read, whereas another group of college students was not offered an incentive. Motivated participants had longer reading times and better recall performance than did participants who were not extrinsically motivated. When reading was constrained at a fixed pace, motivated participants still performed better, with no interaction effect between pacing and motivational status. Therefore, the observed enhanced memory performance of motivated readers was not attributable to additional time spent on reading, indicating that efficient processes that do not influence reading time are involved. The results corroborate observations that extrinsic motivation, in the form of incentives, may lead to increased reading achievement and suggest memory processes are involved in this link.

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