The Effects of Choice on Task Performance and Reward Awareness: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Abstract

Providing a choice is desirable and helpful to learning motivation and task processing. This study explored how choice and achievement goals affect motivation and reward awareness using the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique. Twenty‐four college students participated in this study, in which a 2 × 2 factorial design (choice/no choice × reward/no reward) was used in association with a verbal frequency task involving the selection of the more frequent word between two presented words. In the within‐group analyses, participants showed activation of the medial frontal gyrus in the choice condition regardless of the reward types. The brain activation patterns differed depending on the level of achievement. Overall, providing a choice is beneficial to students in terms of performing a task and processing their reward. It is important to consider an individual's achievement goal when providing choices as a strategy to motivate a learner.

Using Student Choice for Engaged Learning in Sport, Tourism, Recreation, and Live Entertainment Education

“…When learners are given choice, it positively influences learning and the learning environment as learners become vested in the experience and take ownership of the learning (Thibodeaux et al, 2019). The use of student choice caters to different student learning styles, thus improving student success (Boud & Falchikov, 2007;Garside et al, 2009;Race et al, 2005) and task performance (Han, 2021). Students offered choice feel more interested (Dobrow et al, 2011) and engaged (Edwards, 2023;Hwang & Jin, 2016), and enjoy the classroom experience more than traditional teacher-centered methods (Edwards, 2023;Kleitsch & Hodges Kulinna, 2022).…”

“…Students' motivation improves when they have choices (Edwards, 2023;Han, 2021). Motivation is important for STRLE students since "taking initiative" has been found to be a critical competency in recreation management (Hurd et al, 2008) and sport management (Keiper et al, 2019).…”