The characteristics of acquiring new sequence information under dual-task situations have been extensively studied. A concurrent task has often been found to affect performance. In real life, however, we mostly perform a secondary task when the primary task is already well acquired. The effect of a secondary task on the ability to retrieve well-established sequence representations remains elusive. The present study investigates whether accessing well-acquired probabilistic sequence knowledge is affected by a concurrent task. Participants acquired non-adjacent regularities in an implicit probabilistic sequence learning task. After a 24-hour offline period, participants were tested on the same probabilistic sequence learning task under dual-task or single-task conditions. Here, we show that although the secondary task significantly prolonged the overall reaction times in the primary (sequence learning) task, access to the previously learned probabilistic representations remained intact. Our results highlight the importance of studying the dual-task effect not only in the learning phase but also during memory access to reveal the robustness of the acquired skill.
The present study examined the interplay between chronic intelligence beliefs, manipulated intelligence beliefs and self-handicapping processes. Prior studies showed that holding more of a fixed intelligence theory makes one vulnerable to resorting to self-protective mechanisms such as self-handicapping, while growth intelligence mindset can serve as a protective factor for self-handicapping. However, no prior studies have examined the potential interaction between pre-experimental intelligence beliefs, the manipulation of intelligence mindsets and behavioral self-handicapping. Although in our student sample (N = 101) there was no main effect of the mindset manipulations, participants with more of an initial fixed mindset benefited a lot from a brief growth mindset manipulation and displayed the lowest levels of behavioral self-handicapping. The mindset manipulation had less effect on self-handicapping of originally more of a growth-mindset individuals. These laboratory results demonstrate the benefits of growth mindset triggers which can be especially beneficial to reduce self-handicapping of young adults with more of a fixed mindset in educational settings.
Negative feedback in academic settings is often unavoidable, although it may directly interfere with the ultimate goal of education, as setbacks can diminish motivation, and may even lead to dropping out of school. Previous research suggests that certain predispositions, inductions, and interventions might mitigate the harmful effects of negative feedback. Among others, growth mindset beliefs and mindfulness meditation were proposed as the most promising candidates that may help students to retain motivation. In a pre-registered, randomized experiment, we gave a disappointing evaluation to 383 university students in a bogus laboratory IQ test situation. Half of the participants previously received a growth mindset induction referring to intelligence as a malleable characteristic, while the other half received a fixed mindset induction referring to intelligence as a stable characteristic that cannot be changed. Then participants had a brief mindfulness meditation session or a control condition. Subsequently, they could choose to complete practice tasks before the final IQ assessment. The number of completed optional tasks was used as a behavioral proxy for task persistence. The results showed no difference in task persistence for the growth mindset or the mindfulness induction groups, compared to the other conditions. However, those who reported having higher pre-induction growth mindset beliefs or dispositional mindfulness completed more optional tasks after the mindset or mindfulness induction, respectively. We concluded that our brief inductions may not be adequate for everyone to rectify the demotivating effects of negative feedback, but can enhance task persistence for people with a stronger disposition towards a growth mindset or mindfulness.
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