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Effect of Motivation on Reward Sean Coutu, Martin Zambrano California State University Fullerton

Abstract The role of reward as a motivating factor will be explored. Fourteen college students were asked to find words in a word search puzzle. Students were separated into separate rooms where they were provided with one of two-word search puzzles. If the participants found nine, or more, words in the allotted three minutes time they would be provided with a reward. The reward in Room A was a ‘sweet treat’ and Room B was five extra credit points in Dr. Garcia’s Human Services 315 class. Using a t-Test, with significance <.05, to review the results, the experiment did not show a significant difference in performance based on the level of the reward. It was expected that the room with extra credit as a reward would have motivated the student to find more words. In fact the room where ‘sweet treat’ was the reward yielded an average of 1.07 more words found per participant. In future experiments adjusting the reward may yield results that align more with the anticipated results.

The promise of a reward has shown signs of increased brain function in humans (Wallis, J.D, 2019), This provided a starting point for the question that this study meant to answer. Our intent was to see how subjects would react when they were offered two different levels of reward for accomplishing a task. Wallis states “Reward also affects signals in lateral prefrontal cortex related to attention and response selection.” She also goes on to state “a challenge is determining the specific function served by these different reward signals.” This article confirms the basis of our experiment that the mind is motivated by reward. To get a better understanding of this relationship our experiment would offer a reward that would be more immediate and tangible “a sweet treat” and one that was less tactile and delayed yet created the promise of future reward in extra credit points in Dr. Garcia’s Human Services 315 class. Our hypothesis was that we believed the level of ‘sweet treat’ provided, in Room A, would prove less motivational than obtaining extra credit in a college course, in Room B. Our data did not show our prediction to align with the results. In Room A participants found, on average, 1.07 more words than in Room B. In fact, only 1 participant in Room A underperformed their Room B scores. Trying to understand possible reasons why the ‘sweet treat’ seemed to create more motivation paved the to an interesting reason. Timing of the reward may play a larger role in motivation more than the size of the reward. The prospect that the ‘sweet treat’ was seen as a more immediate and tangible reward provided some interesting possibilities. In one study researchers compared size versus timing of rewards and found that immediate verses delayed reward led to a 35% increase in participants completing and continuing a task. Whereas the size of the reward only showed a 19% increase. ( It’s About Time: Immediate Rewards Boost Motivation| Cornell Chronicle, 2018.) While it remains apparent that reward does play a factor in

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motivation our prediction as to what level of reward would be the most motivational was incorrect. Method Participants Fourteen college aged students (18-30-year-olds) attending college at Cal State Fullerton in Fullerton, CA. The participants in this experiment were all female or presenting as female. The participants are part of Dr. Garcia’s Human Services 315 class. Participation in the experiment was part of the student’s grade. Participation was not optional; the participants were not paid for their participation. Materials Two wordsearch puzzles. (see Figure 1 and Figure 2) Each word search contains twenty- six words. The first letter of each word will be one of twenty-six letters in the alphabet. Once a word has been chosen the first letter cannot be repeated as the first letter of another word, on that wordsearch. The wordsearch will be twenty-five letters down and twenty-five letters across. Each word search will contain six hundred and twenty-five letters. The location of the twenty-six words will be randomly selected. The second wordsearch (see Figure 2) will copy the format of the first wordsearch. Each corresponding word, on each word search, that starts with the same letter of the alphabet will also be the same length of word. For example, if wordsearch 1 uses ‘Apply’ then the corresponding word for wordsearch 2 will start with ‘A’ and be 5 letters as well. Students will be provided with a yellow highlighter that will be used to administer both tests. Two well-lit designated testing areas with desks will be needed as well. Procedure

Fourteen college aged students will be randomly assigned into two groups. The groups will be divided inti group A and group B. The groups will go into separate rooms. Each participant will be provided with a word-search puzzle that will be face down on a desk. The participants will sit with at least one desk space between each other. They will be asked to write their name on the back of the wordsearch. Then the participants will have the following instructions read to them. (See figure 3) The participants in Room A will follow script A. The participants in Room B will follow script B. The procedure of the test will be the same in both rooms, the only variation will be the reward offered for successfully completing the task. The participants will be instructed that they will have three minutes to find nine or more words in the wordsearch. Depending on which room they are in the reward will be either a ‘sweet treat’ or 5 points of extra credit. Room A will be where the test with ‘sweet treat’ will be the offered reward, Room B will be the room that the test with extra credit will be offered as the reward. Participants will be told to turn their wordsearch when the timer is started. They will use the provided highlighter to locate as many words as they can in three minutes. When the three minutes is up the group will be told to stop their tests. Once the experiment is complete the participants will be asked to go into the hallway between rooms and wait to be let into the next room. Once the participants are in the other room the experiment for that room will be administered. Results Studying the relationship between the level of reward and effort as measured by the number of words found in a word search. The study utilized a t- test to determine whether the

relationship between reward and motivation was significant. Participants taking the test in Room A located a mean of 6.071428571 words with a standard deviation of 2.200149845. and in Room B participants located a mean of 5 words with a standard deviation of 1.300887271 . The significance of the experiment was calculated with t-test = .03748, d.f = 13, sig <.05. The experiment proved that the reward offered did not create a significant difference on the impact of performance in Room A and Room B. Discussion The findings of this experiment seem to confirm a connection between reward and motivation. Our initial hypothesis, that extra credit would be more motivational than a ‘sweet treat’, proved to be incorrect. Furthermore, our data did not show a significant difference between the two conditions. While our findings were not what we set out to prove we did find strong evidence that the inverse of our hypothesis may hold true. That a more immediate and tangible reward is more motivational. This creates an opportunity to run the experiment again while modifying the levels of reward and focusing on how immediate reward affects motivation by either minimizing or increasing the level of the reward in each room. This study would be supported by the data obtained in the ‘ It’s About Time’ article. A limitation of the experiment that we ran could be an assumption based on reading comprehension and eyesight quality of the participants. To correct this, participants could be tested prior to the experiment to make sure they are grouped with equal ability participants. Optionally multiple levels of experiment could be conducted. This would further help counterbalance over and under achievers in ability levels.

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References Wallis, J. D. (2019). Reward. Handbook of Clinical Neurology , 163 , 281– 294. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-804281-6.00015-X It’s about time: Immediate rewards boost motivation | Cornell Chronicle . (2018, June 6). Cornell Chronicle. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/06/its-about-time-immediate-rewards- boost-motivation

Fig 1.

Fig 2.

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Fig 3. Script Room A Please listen to all instructions before starting the experiment. Please take a seat and make sure there is a seat space between you and the student next to you. In front of you, face down, will be a wordsearch containing 26 different words. You will also be provided with a highlighter. Please write your first and last name on the side of the page currently facing you. This will be a timed activity. When the timer starts you will flip the page over and start finding as many words as you can in the allotted time of 3 minutes. Dr. Garcia has authorized us to provide you with a sweet treat as a reward if you find 9 or more words. The reward will be provided during the debrief at a later time. After the test has concluded please bring your wordsearch and pen to me. Then you will move to the hallway until the next room is available for the next test Script Room 2 Please listen to all instructions before starting the experiment. Please take a seat and make sure there is a seat space between you and the student next to you. In front of you, face down, will be a wordsearch containing 26 different words. You will also be provided with a highlighter. Please write your first and last name on the side of the page currently facing you. This will be a timed activity. When the timer starts you will flip the page over and start finding as many words as you can in the allotted time of 3 minutes. Dr. Garcia has authorized us to provide you with five points extra credit in the class if you find 9 or more words. The reward will be provided during the debrief at a later time. After the test has concluded please bring your wordsearch and pen to me. Then you will move to the hallway until the next room is available for the next test.

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