Mindset induction effects on cognitive control: a neurobehavioral investigation.
Hans S Schroder1, Tim P Moran1, M Brent Donnellan1
1Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, United States.
Biological Psychology
|August 24, 2014
Summary
Mindset messages impact learning by altering brain activity. A growth mindset enhances attention to tasks and improves performance after errors, unlike a fixed mindset.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Mindset messages influence learning and performance interpretations.
- Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying these effects are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how mindset induction affects cognitive control brain activity.
- To explore the neural dynamics of attention and error processing under different mindsets.
Main Methods:
- Participants were randomly assigned to either a growth mindset or fixed mindset condition.
- Electroencephalogram (EEG) recorded brain activity during a reaction-time task.
- Mindset induction involved reading passages about the malleability or immutability of intelligence.
Main Results:
- Growth mindset induction enhanced attention to task-relevant stimuli.
- Fixed mindset induction increased attention to responses, but this did not improve performance adjustments.
- Growth mindset showed a stronger link between error-related attention and adaptive post-error performance.
Conclusions:
- Mindset messages differentially impact the neural dynamics of cognitive control.
- Growth mindset promotes adaptive attention and performance adjustments, particularly after errors.
- Fixed mindset may lead to attention allocation that is not conducive to performance improvements.
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