How does achievement motivation influence mental effort mobilization? Physiological evidence of deteriorative effects of negative affects on thelevel of engagement

We tested whether the effect of achievement motivation on effort is modulated by two possible factors of the motivational intensity theory (Wright and Kirby, 2001): perceived difficulty and maximally justified effort. Approach-driven (N = 16) and avoidance-driven (N = 16) participants were first instructed to perform a reaction time task to the best of their abilities. Next, the participants were instructed to consistently beat their performance standard established in the first condition. Approach-driven participants showed a stronger decrease of midfrequency band of heart rate variability, which was used as an index of mental effort, than avoidance-driven participants in the second instruction condition. Moreover, avoidance-driven participants showed a higher corrugator supercilii reactivity, which was used as an index of negative affects, than approach-driven participants in the second instruction condition. No difference of perceived difficulty between groups was observed. Results suggested that avoidance-driven participants developed negative affects in the second instruction condition decreasing the maximally justified effort and their level of engagement.