Engaging Mental Effort: Process- and Person-Based Reward Experiences, Effort Reinforcement Intervention, and Cascading Effects on Challenging Tasks

Conditions

• Performance vs. Effort Rewards

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

9 Years - 13 Years

Healthy Volunteers

Accepted

Interventions

• Performance Rewards — BEHAVIORAL
  Participants receive more rewards for fast and accurate task performance and fewer rewards for slow and accurate task performance.
• Effort Rewards — BEHAVIORAL
  Participants receive more rewards for choosing to complete the more difficult task and responding accurately and fewer rewards for choosing to complete the less difficult task and responding accurately.

Study Details

Brief Summary: The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate the influences of children's prior experiences with rewards following successes at school and interventions aimed at influencing children's preferences for challenging cognitive tasks. The main questions this study aims to answer are as follows: 1. Does the frequency of process-based rewards (e.g., rewards for working hard) vs. outcomes-based rewards (i.e., rewards for a good grade) predict children's preferences for challenging cognitive tasks? 2. Does providing rewards for taking on effortful cognitive tasks increase children's preferences for challenging cognitive tasks more than providing rewards for performing well on cognitive tasks? 3. Does receiving rewards for taking on effortful cognitive tasks increase children's challenge-seeking in novel tasks and questionnaires relevant for academic achievement that have not been previously linked with rewards? Participants will complete the following tasks: 1. A matrix completion problem solving task, with options to seek tips for solving problems and options to quit early. 2. A response inhibition task, with options to complete a harder or easier version of the task. 3. A cognitive flexibility task, with options to complete a harder or easier version of the task. 4. A puzzle completion task, with an option to quit early. 5. Answer a set of questions about academic effort 6. Parents will complete a set of questions about how they responded to children's recent successes and failures at school.

Key Dates

Start date

Apr 8, 2026

Status verified

Apr 2026

Primary completion

Sep 1, 2028

Completion

Sep 1, 2028

Study Design

Enrollment

180 participants (estimated)

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

• Experimental: Effort-based Reward Contingency
  Great rewards are offered for children who repeatedly decide to complete a more difficult response inhibition task.
• Experimental: Performance-based Reward Contingency
  Rewards are provided for children who perform quickly and accurately, regardless of which response inhibition task option they select to play.

Primary Outcome Measure

Cognitive Effort Avoidance - Reinforced Task [ Time Frame: Immediately after the intervention ]

Central Contacts

• Jesse C Niebaum, PhD
  530-752-1011
  [email protected]
• Yuko Munakata, PhD
  [email protected]

Locations (1)

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