Neural processes underlying cultural differences in cognitive persistence

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Eva H TelzerLynda C Lin

Abstract

Self-improvement motivation, which occurs when individuals seek to improve upon their competence by gaining new knowledge and improving upon their skills, is critical for cognitive, social, and educational adjustment. While many studies have delineated the neural mechanisms supporting extrinsic motivation induced by monetary rewards, less work has examined the neural processes that support intrinsically motivated behaviors, such as self-improvement motivation. Because cultural groups traditionally vary in terms of their self-improvement motivation, we examined cultural differences in the behavioral and neural processes underlying motivated behaviors during cognitive persistence in the absence of extrinsic rewards. In Study 1, 71 American (47 females, M=19.68 years) and 68 Chinese (38 females, M=19.37 years) students completed a behavioral cognitive control task that required cognitive persistence across time. In Study 2, 14 American and 15 Chinese students completed the same cognitive persistence task during an fMRI scan. Across both studies, American students showed significant declines in cognitive performance across time, whereas Chinese participants demonstrated effective cognitive persistence. These behavioral effects were...Continue Reading

Citations

Mar 30, 2018·Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc·Malte FrieseMichael Inzlicht
Aug 20, 2020·Perspectives on Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science·Yang QuEva H Telzer
Jun 5, 2020·Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science·Alexander Shkurko
Sep 9, 2020·Attention, Perception & Psychophysics·Angela GutchessAysecan Boduroglu
Jul 28, 2020·Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience·Rui PeiEmily B Falk
Jul 2, 2021·Developmental Science·Paul B SharpEva H Telzer

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