Lageman, Renske (2025) The Role of Motivation in a Visual Detection Task. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Pupil size is influenced by light, distance, and various cognitive factors, including arousal and motivation. Previous research suggests that greater pupil dilation is associated with improved detection task performance, likely due to an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio. Additionally, studies have shown a relationship between larger pupil sizes and higher motivation, as well as between high motivation and better detection task accuracy. This study examines the role of motivation in regulating pupil size and accuracy in a visual detection task. In our study, 57 first-year psychology students completed a near-threshold visual detection task while their pupil size was continuously tracked. A repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted with motivation as a between-subjects factor. Our results show that larger pre-stimulus pupil size is linked to higher accuracy in the detection task. Furthermore, the high motivation group exhibited significantly larger pupils than the low motivation group. However, motivation did not significantly influence accuracy, nor did it influence the relationship between pupil size and accuracy. These results highlight the complex interaction between cognitive factors – such as motivation – pupil size, and detection performance. Our results suggests that while motivation may impact pupil size, it does not alter the direct relationship between pupil size and task accuracy.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Ruuskanen, V.H.S. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Feb 2025 07:48 |
| Last Modified: | 21 Feb 2025 07:48 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4675 |
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