Opportunity or Risk? Appraisal and Affect Mediate the Effect of Task Framing on Working Memory Performance in University Students

Abstract

Working memory (WM) is crucial for reasoning, learning, decision-making and academic achievement. In diverse contexts, how a task is framed pertaining to its demands and consequences can influence participants' task performance by modifying their cognitive appraisals. However, less is known about the effect of task framing on WM performance and the mechanisms. This study examined whether opportunity- and risk-focused task framing would influence university students' WM performance by altering their cognitive appraisals and affective experiences. Ninety-seven university students were randomly assigned to one of the three framing conditions (Opportunity, Risk, vs. Null), and received instructions that differed in consequences (gain for top performers, loss for poor performers, vs. null), goals (approach, avoidance, vs. neutral), and feedback on personal competence (adequate, inadequate, vs. null). Challenge and threat appraisals, affect, and WM performance were measured before and after task framing. Results showed that opportunity-focused task framing improved students' WM performance, whilst risk-focused task framing increased threat appraisal and decreased positive affect, and that challenge appraisal was not altered in any condition. Female students were influenced by task framing to a greater extent than were male students. Mediation analysis revealed that the alteration of threat appraisal and the change in positive affect mediated the effect of task framing on WM performance. Findings highlight the important role of modifying cognitive appraisals and affective responses in optimizing cognitive performance.

Social Support and Loneliness among Chinese Rural-to-Urban Migrant Children: A Moderated Mediation Analysis of the Roles of Social Competence and Stress Mindset

“…A stress-is-a-threat mindset biases their attentional processes toward negative stimuli rather than positive stimuli in their environments, so these children may not proactively respond to the available support. Instead, they tend to react to the environment in an avoidance manner, such as engaging in an avoidance coping pattern like behavioral disengagement, denial, and self-blame [ 27 ], showing worse cognitive flexibility [ 21 ] and impeded working memory [ 55 , 58 ], and experiencing more negative affect like tension and anxiety [ 55 , 58 ]. When being overwhelmed by negative thoughts, negative affect, avoidance behaviors, as well as attentional and interpretational biases, migrant children with a stress-is-a-threat mindset may not swiftly reduce their feelings of loneliness.…”

“…People with a stress-is-a-challenge mindset tend to engage in a challenge state across situations, which leads to biological, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses in an approach-oriented manner [ 57 ], such as greater cognitive flexibility [ 21 ], better working memory [ 55 , 58 ], and more functional coping patterns [ 27 , 56 ]. By contrast, individuals with a stress-is-a-threat mindset tend to engage in a threat state, which leads to responses in an avoidance-oriented manner [ 57 ], such as debilitated cognitive processes [ 20 , 21 , 55 , 56 ] and dysfunctional coping patterns [ 27 , 58 ]. Thus, we expected that migrant children who have a stress-is-a-challenge mindset would respond more proactively to the available support in their environments and acquire knowledge and learn social skills more efficiently through seeking and utilizing social support.…”