Open AccessThe effects of goal setting on the arithmetic performance of brain-damaged patients
Author(s) -
Siegfried Gauggel
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
archives of clinical neuropsychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1873-5843
pISSN - 0887-6177
DOI - 10.1016/s0887-6177(01)00113-5
Subject(s) - task (project management) , neuropsychology , set (abstract data type) , executive functions , cognition , psychology , working memory , cognitive psychology , goal setting , arithmetic , computer science , psychiatry , social psychology , mathematics , management , economics , programming language
A goal-setting approach was used to examine the ways in which different goals influence the performance of 69 brain-damaged (BD) patients in an arithmetic task. Patients were equally assigned to two conditions: one in which a specific, high goal was set, and one with a “do your best” goal. Statistical analyses indicated that patients with a specific, high goal performed significantly better than patients with a “do your best” goal. No clinical or neuropsychological variables (e.g., time since onset of illness and memory function) were found to have a moderating influence on the effect of goal setting. These results indicate that even BD patients with cognitive and executive dysfunctions can efficiently self-regulate their behavior after the assignment of a high, specific goal in an easy laboratory task.