How rewards for effort versus performance change children's choices to take on challenging thinking tasks
Official title: Engaging Mental Effort: Process- and Person-Based Reward Experiences, Effort Reinforcement Intervention, and Cascading Effects on Challenging Tasks
Run by University of California, Davis · NCT07557732 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project tests whether 9–13-year-old children will choose harder thinking tasks more often when they are rewarded for effort (trying hard) versus rewarded for good performance.
Quick facts
| Study type | Interventional |
|---|---|
| Ages | 9 Years to 13 Years |
| Sex | All |
| Enrollment | 180 (estimated) |
| Sponsor | University of California, Davis Academic / other |
| Locations | 1 site (Davis, California) |
| Status | Recruiting |
| Started | April 8, 2026 |
| Main results expected | September 1, 2028 |
| Study ends | September 1, 2028 |
| Registry record updated | April 29, 2026 |
| Trial ID | NCT07557732 on ClinicalTrials.gov |
Is this trial a fit for you?
✓Likely a good fit
Ideal participants are typically developing children aged 9 to 13 who can attend two in-person visits and whose parents can complete study questionnaires.
✕Probably not a fit
Children outside the 9–13 age range or those with diagnosed developmental disorders (for example autism, ADHD, or learning disabilities) are excluded and would not receive direct benefit from this protocol.
A plain-English reading of the study's rules. Only the study team can confirm whether you qualify.
What this trial studies
Typically developing children aged 9–13 complete two in-person sessions about a week apart where they do problem-solving and cognitive control tasks (matrix problems, response inhibition, task-switching) and an impossible-puzzle challenge. Participants are randomly assigned to receive rewards either for selecting harder tasks (effort rewards) or for performing well regardless of task choice (performance rewards), with choices and performance measured before, during, and after rewards. Parents complete questionnaires about how they respond to their child's successes and failures at school and about support for academic effort. The design tests whether effort-contingent rewards increase challenge-seeking and whether any changes carry over to novel tasks and academic-related measures.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could inform ways parents and teachers use effort-based rewards to encourage children to take on and persist with challenging schoolwork.
How similar studies have gone: Prior work on process-based (effort) praise has found increased persistence and learning, though using structured rewards to shift challenge-seeking in these specific tasks is less extensively tested.
Who can join: the full rules
Show full inclusion / exclusion criteria
Inclusion Criteria: \- Children aged 9.00-13.00 years Exclusion Criteria: * Known or diagnosed developmental disorder (autism, ADHD, other learning disorders or developmental delays)
Where it's running
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Center for Mind and Brain
Davis, California, United States Recruiting
Study contacts
- Study coordinator: Jesse C Niebaum, PhD
- Email: jcniebaum@ucdavis.edu
- Phone: 530-752-1011
How to take part
- Review the eligibility criteria above with your treating physician.
- Check the official listing on ClinicalTrials.gov for the latest contact details and recruitment status.
- Contact the study coordinator or principal investigator to ask for pre-screening. Pre-screening is free and never obligates you to enroll.