Optimizing self-regulation of performance: is mental effort a cue?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Medical Education
• Performance Self-Regulation

Background:

• Effective self-regulation of performance is crucial for trainee development.
• Trainees utilize cues and monitoring judgments to self-regulate, but accuracy can be limited.
• Identifying reliable cues and accurate monitoring judgments is essential for improving performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate mental effort as a cue for self-regulation in medical trainees.
• To measure the cue utilization and diagnosticity of mental effort.
• To assess the monitoring accuracy of certainty judgments in relation to performance.

Main Methods:

• 22 Internal Medicine residents (PGY 1-3) interpreted 10 ECGs each.
• Participants rated their diagnostic certainty (0-100%) and perceived mental effort (1-9).
• Path analysis was used to examine relationships between mental effort, certainty, and diagnostic accuracy.

Main Results:

• A moderate negative association was found between certainty and mental effort, indicating cue utilization.
• Mental effort showed a small negative predictive relationship with diagnostic accuracy (cue diagnosticity).
• Certainty demonstrated a moderate positive association with diagnostic accuracy, reflecting monitoring accuracy.

Conclusions:

• Mental effort serves as a cue, and certainty acts as a monitoring judgment in performance self-regulation.
• The observed correlations suggest these factors contribute to self-regulation but are not highly predictive.
• Further research is necessary to discover additional cues for enhancing trainee self-regulation.