Sustained attention and motivation: A chronopsychological approach

This paper discusses the effects of motivation on ability to sustain attention. We emphasize the fact that motivation should be considered a masking factor in ultradian rhythmicities of cognitive efficiency. In the first part of this article, several studies are listed. These studies attempted to show behavioral fluctuations when sustained attention is required. The inconsistency of the results brought forth by such studies is pointed out. In the second part of the article, the question of the status granted to motivation in chronopsychological studies, where motivation is manipulated in several ways, is discussed. Interpretations are revisited in terms of intrinsic and/or extrinsic motivation concepts. Some of these chronopsychological studies used only extrinsic motivation whereas others created conditions in which intrinsic motivation was favoured (for example, knowledge of results, which appears to be a prominent masking factor). Finally, we propose several hypotheses in order to support the assumption of a stabilizing effect provided by intrinsic motivation. We conclude by insisting upon the necessity of involving participants in tasks requiring complex cognitive activity, which contrasts with the monotonous and too simple tasks used frequently in chronopsychological studies. Concrete implications for applied and basic research are suggested.