Learning and MotivationPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-08-06DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102322
TianCang Zhang
{"title":"AI-mediated learning as a quantum measurement process: Effects of adaptive AI feedback on motivation stability, cognitive load, and learning efficiency","authors":"TianCang Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102322","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102322","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present study aimed to examine the effects of adaptive artificial intelligence (AI) feedback, conceptualized as a quantum measurement process, on Chinese upper-intermediate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ motivation stability, cognitive load, and learning efficiency. A quasi-experimental explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was adopted. The participants were 117 EFL learners aged 17–26 years from language institutes in China. At the class level, they were assigned to an experimental group (EG; n = 60), which received adaptive AI feedback during a 10-week coursebook-based intervention, and a control group (CG; n = 57), which received traditional teacher-mediated feedback. Quantitative data were collected at pretest and posttest through the validated scales. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with 15 purposefully selected EG learners who represented variation across the three outcome variables. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, MANCOVA, and follow-up univariate ANCOVAs, while content analysis was employed for the interview data. The MANCOVA findings revealed a significant multivariate effect of group on the combined posttest outcomes after pretest scores were controlled. Follow-up analyses indicated that the EG achieved significantly greater motivation stability and learning efficiency and significantly lower cognitive load than the CG. Consistent with these results, the qualitative findings showed that learners perceived adaptive AI feedback as personalized, supportive, progress-oriented, and helpful in identifying errors, reducing uncertainty, and revising more efficiently, although a few reported temporary cognitive strains when the feedback was highly detailed. In light of these findings, adaptive AI feedback may function as a state-regulating instructional mechanism that supports motivation, the management of cognitive effort, and efficient EFL learning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47305,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Motivation","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102322"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148735240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Learning and MotivationPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-07-30DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102318
Stephanie Rose Brikho
{"title":"Quantum cognition: A complementary framework for modeling learning and motivation in educational settings","authors":"Stephanie Rose Brikho","doi":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102318","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102318","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Classical theories of learning and motivation generally assume that cognitive and motivational states are determinate, with observed variability attributed to measurement imprecision or incomplete knowledge. However, research in cognitive science has documented systematic deviations from classical probability theory, including context dependence, order effects, and non-additive influences on judgment and decision-making. The present article examines quantum cognition as a complementary theoretical framework for modeling learning and motivation in educational contexts. This approach extends classical models by representing cognitive states within a Hilbert space formalism, representing superposition, incompatibility, interference, and entanglement as mathematically defined properties. These constructs are introduced as formal representational tools and are conceptually mapped onto educational phenomena, including conceptual ambiguity, motivational conflict, and context-sensitive learning. The framework makes no assumptions regarding quantum physical processes in the brain; rather, it adopts quantum probability as a mathematical formalism aligned with empirically observed deviations from the classical probability axioms in human judgment and decision-making. The analysis is theoretical in scope and presents educational applications as conceptual extensions derived from the quantum cognition literature. The framework generates empirically testable predictions, including order-dependent response patterns and violations of classical probability constraints, which may be evaluated using counterbalanced assessment designs and controlled contextual manipulations. By specifying the conditions under which quantum and classical models converge or diverge, the article positions a quantum approach as a formal extension for modeling learning under uncertainty and contextual sensitivity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47305,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Motivation","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102318"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148641450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Learning and MotivationPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-08-04DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102321
Yeping Liu
{"title":"Motivational interference in multitask learning environments: A quantum cognition perspective on engagement, procrastination, and task commitment","authors":"Yeping Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102321","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102321","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present study examined whether structured multitask learning (ML) might produce stronger motivational and behavioral outcomes than single-task learning (STL) and conventional teacher-led instruction among intermediate Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Drawing upon a quantum cognition perspective, engagement, procrastination, and task commitment were treated as context-sensitive learner outcomes that might be shaped by different arrangements of classroom task demands. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design, 95 learners from two English institutes in China participated in the study and were assigned to three instructional conditions: ML (n = 30), STL (n = 31), and control group (CG, n = 34). The 12-week intervention was implemented through Select Reading 2. Learners in the ML group completed integrated activities in which reading, vocabulary processing, oral or written production, peer interaction, and teacher feedback were connected within the same instructional cycle. Learners in the STL group completed the same task components sequentially, while learners in the CG received regular teacher-led instruction without structured task integration. Engagement, procrastination, and task commitment were measured before and after the intervention through validated self-report scales. The quantitative findings indicated no significant pretest differences among the three groups, suggesting baseline comparability. Posttest ANOVA and Tukey HSD comparisons further showed that the ML group reported significantly higher engagement and task commitment and significantly lower procrastination than both the STL and CG groups. The STL group also outperformed the CG, though its gains were smaller than those of the ML group. The findings suggest that carefully structured ML can assist EFL teachers in designing integrated, feedback-rich classroom tasks that foster sustained engagement, strengthen learner commitment, and reduce delay-oriented learning behavior.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47305,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Motivation","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102321"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148735239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Learning and MotivationPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-08-12DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102319
Runyi Wang
{"title":"An investigation into how probabilistic and deterministic feedback shape Chinese EFL learners’ expectancy beliefs, task value, emotion regulation, and learning engagement: An experimental inquiry","authors":"Runyi Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102319","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102319","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although formative and corrective feedback have been widely studied in language learning, less is known about whether feedback certainty influences learners’ motivational appraisals, regulatory responses, and engagement. Framed within Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT), this study examined whether probabilistic feedback (PF), delivered with approximately 60% accuracy, led to higher posttest scores than deterministic feedback (DF) for Chinese EFL learners’ expectancy beliefs, task value, emotion regulation, and learning engagement. Using convenience-based sampling, 83 intermediate learners from a university-affiliated EFL language center were recruited and randomly assigned to an Experimental Group (EG), which received PF, or a Control Group (CG), which received DF. Across eight instructional sessions, both groups completed structured speaking, vocabulary, and grammar tasks from the Top Notch 2 curriculum. Pretest and posttest data were gathered through validated self-report scales and analyzed through descriptive statistics, baseline equivalence checks, independent-samples t-tests, paired-samples t-tests, Holm-adjusted posttest comparisons, and Cohen’s d. The EG showed significantly higher posttest scores for expectancy beliefs, task value, emotion regulation, and learning engagement, with moderate between-group effects from d = 0.52 to d = 0.75. Random assignment and baseline comparability support the interpretation that feedback condition contributed to these differences, although reliance on self-report measures requires caution in claims about learners’ in-task regulation and engagement. The findings indicate that bounded uncertainty in formative feedback can support reflective task processing, self-monitoring, and sustained participation when learners have structured opportunities to verify understanding. Pedagogically, the study supports a balanced feedback model in which DF consolidates accuracy, while carefully calibrated probabilistic prompts are used during practice to strengthen motivation, regulation, and engagement under comparable EFL task conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47305,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Motivation","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102319"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148735236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Learning and MotivationPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-08-19DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102325
Yongjia Huang, Liu Shi
{"title":"How basic psychological needs relate to engagement in AI-supported language learning: A self-determination theory perspective","authors":"Yongjia Huang, Liu Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102325","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102325","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Drawing on self-determination theory, this study examined how basic psychological needs are associated with learner engagement in AI-supported language learning through AI self-efficacy, flow, and mindfulness. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 819 Chinese undergraduate students who had experience using AI tools for language learning. Data analysis were conducted using SPSS 27.0, AMOS 26.0, and R 4.2.0, including preliminary screening, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, bootstrapped mediation analysis, and psychological network analysis. The SEM results showed that basic psychological needs were significantly associated with AI self-efficacy, flow, and mindfulness. AI self-efficacy, flow, and mindfulness were also significantly related to engagement. Mediation analysis further indicated that these three psychological variables served as significant indirect pathways linking basic psychological needs and engagement. The network analysis revealed that flow and engagement had the strongest edge, followed by the connections between basic psychological needs and engagement and between mindfulness and engagement. Engagement also occupied the most central position in the psychological network. These findings suggest that engagement in AI-supported language learning is closely connected with students’ motivational need satisfaction, confidence in using AI, immersive experience, and mindful awareness, rather than merely with access to AI tools.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47305,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Motivation","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102325"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148770035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Learning and MotivationPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-07-18DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102314
Ibrahim Mohammadzadeh, Amir Masoud Dalband, Amirreza Beirami, Nagar Asadian, Maral Hasanzadeh, Zahrasadat lajevardi, Armin Karamian, Ali Charmchi, Aryan Seraj, Aryan Aghaei, Mohammadamin Sabbaghalvani, Esmaeil Mohammadbagheri, Zahra Ghasemi, Fatemeh Zare, Fatemeh Navaei, Hamzeh Badeli Sarkala, Mojtaba Sani, Abbas Aliaghaei
{"title":"Neuroprotective potential of elderberry in alcohol-induced brain injury in rats: Electrophysiology, behavioral and histopathological studies","authors":"Ibrahim Mohammadzadeh, Amir Masoud Dalband, Amirreza Beirami, Nagar Asadian, Maral Hasanzadeh, Zahrasadat lajevardi, Armin Karamian, Ali Charmchi, Aryan Seraj, Aryan Aghaei, Mohammadamin Sabbaghalvani, Esmaeil Mohammadbagheri, Zahra Ghasemi, Fatemeh Zare, Fatemeh Navaei, Hamzeh Badeli Sarkala, Mojtaba Sani, Abbas Aliaghaei","doi":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102314","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102314","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Chronic alcohol abuse leads to structural brain damage and behavioral impairments. Plant-derived compounds with neuroprotective properties, such as elderberry (EB), have emerged as potential therapeutic candidates for mitigating alcohol-induced neuroinflammation and cognitive deficits. This study investigated the effects of EB supplementation on hippocampal structure and function following chronic alcohol exposure in male albino rats. Animals were divided into three groups: Control, Alcohol, and Alcohol + EB. Learning and memory were assessed using the Y-maze, shuttle box, Morris water maze (MWM), and Barnes maze. Anxiety-like behavior was evaluated using the elevated plus maze (EPM), while depression-like behavior was assessed via the tail suspension test (TST) and forced swim test (FST). Hippocampal synaptic plasticity was examined through field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP) and population spike (PS) recordings. Astrocyte reactivity was evaluated by GFAP immunohistochemistry, and histopathological changes, including the number and spatial distribution of pyramidal neurons in the CA1 region, were assessed using Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining. Our findings demonstrated that EB supplementation significantly improved memory performance across all behavioral tasks compared to the alcohol group. Additionally, EB reduced anxiety- and depression-like behaviors, as evidenced by EPM, TST, and FST results. Electrophysiological recordings revealed that EB restored fEPSP slope and population spike amplitude to control levels, indicating preserved synaptic plasticity. Immunohistochemical analysis of GFAP expression in the hippocampus revealed a significant increase in GFAP-positive astrocytes in the alcohol group, indicating reactive astrogliosis. In contrast, EB treatment significantly reduced GFAP immunoreactivity, suggesting attenuation of alcohol-induced astrogliosis. Furthermore, EB treatment attenuated alcohol-induced morphological changes in astrocytes and protected hippocampal pyramidal neurons in the CA1 region, preserving both neuronal number and spatial organization. In summary, these preclinical findings suggest that EB may have potential neuroprotective effects against alcohol-induced brain damage, though human studies are required to confirm its therapeutic applicability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47305,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Motivation","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102314"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148641111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Learning and MotivationPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-07-23DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102317
Christopher L. Thomas, Woonhee Sung
{"title":"Expectancy–value beliefs, achievement goals, and academic help-seeking outcomes in university students","authors":"Christopher L. Thomas, Woonhee Sung","doi":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102317","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102317","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The current study used mediation techniques to investigate the relationships among expectancy-value beliefs, achievement goal orientation, and academic help-seeking outcomes. Undergraduate and graduate students (<em>N</em> = 391) completed an online survey assessing task value, academic self-efficacy (expectancy beliefs), perceived cost, achievement goals (i.e., mastery approach/avoidance and performance approach/avoidance), and academic help-seeking outcomes (i.e., instrumental and executive help-seeking, help-seeking threat, and avoidance). Mediation models were then used to test whether achievement goals mediated the relationships between task value, expectancy beliefs, cost, and academic help-seeking outcomes. Results revealed distinct patterns across help-seeking dimensions. Expectancy beliefs were positively associated with instrumental help-seeking and negatively associated with help-seeking avoidance and threat, whereas perceived cost was positively associated with executive help-seeking, avoidance, and threat. Across models, mastery-approach goals were consistently associated with more adaptive help-seeking patterns (e.g., greater instrumental help-seeking and lower avoidance and threat), whereas mastery-avoidance goals were associated with less adaptive patterns (e.g., greater avoidance and threat and lower instrumental help-seeking). Mediation analyses indicated that mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goals served as primary mechanisms linking expectancy-value beliefs to help-seeking outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of considering both expectancy-value beliefs and achievement goal orientations when examining academic help-seeking outcomes and provide implications for promoting adaptive help-seeking patterns among university students.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47305,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Motivation","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102317"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148641449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Learning and MotivationPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-08-19DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102327
Jiaxing Xiong, G.U. Linyi
{"title":"Stimulus equivalence in plain sight: Effects of baseline trials on derived relational responding and equivalence class formation","authors":"Jiaxing Xiong, G.U. Linyi","doi":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102327","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102327","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We developed a visual assessment procedure to examine whether learners could identify stimulus-equivalence (SE) relations directly from displayed relational information, without receiving conventional equivalence training. Across a sequence of presentation screens, nine colored stimuli appeared within paired boxes arranged to represent three independent three-member equivalence classes. Each study display was followed by two response options: one paired two stimuli belonging to the same equivalence class, whereas the other combined stimuli originating from different classes. Participants selected the option they believed best matched the relational structure illustrated in the study display. The final task required participants to organize all nine colors into self-defined groups based on the relational patterns they had observed. Twenty-two undergraduate students, including individuals with and without previous exposure to stimulus equivalence research, completed the experiment. The first subgroup completed additional baseline trials that included direct copies of the study pairs before the symmetry and transitivity assessments. In contrast, the remaining participants completed only the critical relational judgments. Approximately half of the sample consistently identified within-class stimulus combinations. Previous experience with equivalence procedures appeared to increase accurate relational responding, while Baseline trials showed little evidence of facilitating performance in this sample. Participants who consistently selected within-class relations also tended to classify the colored stimuli into the predicted three equivalence categories during the sorting task. These findings provide preliminary evidence suggesting that participants can infer equivalence structures from visually available relational information alone and highlight opportunities to refine this observational paradigm for investigating relational learning alongside conventional matching-to-sample procedures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47305,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Motivation","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102327"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148770034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Learning and MotivationPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-07-20DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102316
Micah Amd
{"title":"Implicit generalization of space-valence associations across artificial grammar categories","authors":"Micah Amd","doi":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102316","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102316","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Previous research on space-valence associations (SVAs) has demonstrated how emotional valences are differentially embodied across spatial dimensions. However, the extent to which SVAs can generalize to abstract categories, along with the extent to which transferred SVAs rely on conscious inferential processes, remains unaddressed. The present work addresses these gaps by linking natural relational poles spanning vertical, horizontal, temporal, and affective dimensions with non-recurring, meaningless strings from Artificial Grammar Categories (AGCs) using a matching-to-sample (MTS) task. Natural pole evaluations were highly differentiated before and after MTS, confirming established SVAs. Natural pole evaluations were also strongly and positively related to explicit MTS performance and strategy awareness. In contrast, novel AGC strings linked with affective and vertical poles evoked valence differentials comparable to their natural counterparts after MTS. However, this transfer was not observed for AGCs linked to horizontal or temporal poles. Importantly, successful AGC evaluative shifts were unrelated to explicit MTS categorization accuracy or strategy awareness. These findings suggest that while embodied valences can implicitly generalize to abstracted structures, the efficacy of this transfer depends heavily on the inherent cognitive stability of the spatial anchor.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47305,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Motivation","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102316"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148641448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Learning and MotivationPub Date : 2026-08-01Epub Date: 2026-08-17DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102328
Journie Yee, Iwan Downie, Jade Fountain, Timothy L. Edwards
{"title":"The breakfast effect revisited: Dogs’ scent detection performance before and after a meal","authors":"Journie Yee, Iwan Downie, Jade Fountain, Timothy L. Edwards","doi":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102328","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lmot.2026.102328","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The influence of a recent meal on dogs’ scent-detection performance has not been systematically evaluated. The motivating operations account of motivation suggests that, when hungrier, scent-detection animals will treat a broader range of stimuli as target stimuli, thereby resulting in higher false alarm rates. In the present study, we tested this prediction by evaluating six dogs’ performance in a mixture-detection task using an alternating-treatments design in which they received breakfast prior to the task on some days and after the task on other days. Following training to use an airflow olfactometer, dogs’ indication responses in the presence of the target mixture were reinforced while indications to a non-target chemical or mixture were not reinforced. A key finding from this study was that, as predicted by the motivating operations account, dogs produced significantly more false alarms when they were working before compared to after breakfast. There was no difference in dogs’ mean hit rates between the two conditions, and there were no significant effects on log <em>d</em> (a measure of sensitivity to the target) or log <em>B</em> (a measure of bias). We predicted that dogs would take longer to complete the task in the breakfast compared to the no-breakfast condition, but no significant difference in session duration was found between the two conditions. These findings have important implications for applications involving scent-detection animals. They also raise a variety of additional questions related to the role of motivation and nutrition in scent-detection performance that should be addressed in future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47305,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Motivation","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102328"},"PeriodicalIF":4.4,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148770036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}