Adding nuance to the challenge-skill relationship: The interaction of perceived and actual skill

•Middle school students engaged in a difficult mathematics task.•Higher perceived skill was advantageous when perceived difficulty was high.•Actual skill moderates the perceived difficulty × perceived skill relationship.•A combination of high perceived skill and low actual skill supports motivation.

Optimal motivation occurs when there is a balance between perceived challenge and perceived skill. The challenge-skill relationship has been studied extensively with regard to perceived skill, with limited attention given to actual (i.e., domain-specific) skill. The present study investigated the role of actual skill within the perceived difficulty × perceived skill relationship. Consistent with our predictions, actual skill moderated the perceived difficulty × perceived skill relationship for the outcomes of intrinsic motivation, boredom, and persistence during a mathematics task. Furthermore, those with high perceived skill and low actual skill reported the most advantageous motivational outcomes. Together, these findings indicate that the challenge-skill relationship is more complex than we had previously thought once we consider both perceived and actual skill.