Impact of Motivation on Task Performance of Children with and without Psychoeducational Problems

Two studies focusing on differential effects of strategies to enhance motivation are reported. One study included 59 nonproblem elementary-age children; the other involved 77 students (7 to 16 years of age) with learning and behavior problems. In both studies a brief intervention designed to increase motivation was implemented prior to a second administration of a coding task. As predicted, nonproblem students did not improve to a greater degree than those in practice and volunteer control groups. In contrast, problem students showed a significant increment in performance following the motivational manipulation. Results are interpreted as indicating (a) that brief strategies to enhance motivation can improve performance of problem students, (b) that the effect of any such strategy is directly related to both its potency and the degree to which initial motivation to perform is diminished, and (c) that problem students often may be performing significantly below current capability.