Effects of incentive on working memory capacity: Behavioral and pupillometric data

Richard P. Heitz*, Josef C. Schrock, Tabitha W. Payne, Randall W. Engle

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

We evaluated the hypothesis that individual differences in working memory capacity are explained by variation in mental effort, persons with low capacity exerting less effort than persons with high capacity. Groups previously rated high and low in working memory capacity performed the reading span task under three levels of incentive. The effort hypothesis holds that low span subjects exert less effort during task performance than do high spans. Subjects' pupil sizes were recorded online during task performance as a measure of mental effort. Both recall performance and pupil diameter were found to be increased under incentives, but were additive with span (incentives increased performance and pupil diameter equivalently for both span groups). Contrary to the effort hypothesis, task-evoked pupillary responses indicated that if anything, low span subjects exert more effort than do high spans.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)119-129
Number of pages11
JournalPsychophysiology
Volume45
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2008

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • individual differences
  • working memory capacity
  • mental effort
  • pupillometry
  • INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES
  • PUPILLARY RESPONSES
  • TASK
  • ATTENTION
  • SIZE
  • INTELLIGENCE

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