Incidental learning as a function of anticipated task difficulty

Three experiments were conducted to demonstrate the effects of motivational arousal, due to anticipated task difficulty, on retention of familiar and unfamiliar incidental materials. Brehm, Wright, Solomon, Silka, and Greenberg (1983) have provided evidence that motivational arousal in immediate anticipation of a task is a nonmonotonic function of task difficulty, with difficult tasks producing a relatively higher level of motivational arousal than easy or impossible tasks. It was predicted that increased motivational arousal would facilitate retention of incidentally presented familiar materials (presumably more easily retained) and interfere with retention of incidentally presented unfamiliar materials (presumably less easily retained). In Study 1, subjects anticipating either an easy or a difficult task were exposed to familiar and unfamiliar first names. The predicted interaction between task difficulty and familiarity on recall of the first names was reliably supported. In Study 2, an impossible task condition was added. The results indicated that an effective impossible condition had not been created. In a third study designed as a procedural modification of Study 2, the predicted nonmonotonic interaction was found. Theoretical implications are discussed.These experiments were ably conducted by Ralph Young, whose help is gratefuly acknowledged. We would like to express our gratitude to Jack Brehm for invaluable suggestions concerning this research.