Method of recruiting subjects and performance on cognitive tests

College students often serve as participants in psychological research. The effects of three methods of recruiting subjects for laboratory tests of attention and memory were assessed in a series of studies. The performance of students who received monetary incentives and the performance of students who received course-credit incentives were compared with the performance of students recruited from classes where research participation was a requirement. Monetary incentives resulted in slight, but significant, improvements in performance on tests of sustained attention and recognition memory. Course-credit incentives did not affect subjects' test performance. Test performance did not differ as a function of the time of the semester when studies were conducted. Recruitment issues pertinent to departmental subject pools are discussed.