ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the results of three experiments on the impact of goal setting on short-term retention of verbal information are reported. Participants were asked to work on two different memory tasks under two goal-setting conditions (do your best vs. specic and difcult goals). The rst task was a reading span test that required (a) to read out sets of sentences without pausing during reading and (b) to recall the terminal words of each sentence, each time all sentences of a set were processed. The second task was a traditional memory span test with lists of one-syllable words. Time of day for performing these tasks was controlled. The results demonstrate that high work motivation induced by goal-setting facilitates short-term retention of information mainly for subtasks with high memory load and around midday, when short-term storage of information is usually impaired due to circadian performance rhythms. Furthermore, goal setting induced improvements in short-term retention of information seem to be restricted to conditions in which the use of a rehearsal strategy is impeded. Finally, results indicate that performanceenhancing effects of goal setting on memory performance are probably not caused by different encoding or recall strategies. Hence, it is concluded that goal setting leads to a temporary increase in cognitive arousal (working memory capacity), especially around midday. At other times of the day, no substantial changes in memory performance due to goal setting were observed.