The effect of monetary compensation on cognitive training outcomes

Recent work has established the possibility that messaging and incentive during recruitment may influence the outcome of cognitive training. These factors may impact intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to complete a training intervention, and one provocative single session study suggests that recruitment messaging may be responsible for an expectancy effect in certain training experiments. To examine the effects of payment and payment messaging during recruitment on a longer training program, participants were recruited to complete a twenty-session working memory regimen with or without payment, and with messaging that either emphasized payment or improving cognition. Significant group differences were observed at baseline; unpaid participants reported a significantly higher number of cognitive failures compared to compensated participants. However, both paid and unpaid training groups improved on transfer measures compared to an active control group, and payment had no effect on transfer. An additional post-test survey within the compensated group revealed different motivational orientations that were associated with significant performance differences on the visuospatial reasoning factor at baseline. While these differences in motivation were not predictive of transfer or training gain, it is possible that other elements of the study, including researcher involvement, may also play a role in determining the extent to which participants demonstrate transfer on untrained tasks. We conclude that while payment and recruitment messaging may affect training and transfer performance to some degree, a variety of additional factors likely contribute to the outcome of any individual study and the influence of certain factors may matter less during a longer-term program.