Adaptive Cognitive Strategies Research Articles

Functional brain asymmetry and cognitive strategies in sports single combats

Issues of individual typological classification on the basis of human brain hemisphere organization, which is the basis for optimizing professional orientation, sports selection and individual approach in the process of long-term training. Objective. Study of the relationship of functional brain asymmetry with cognitive strategies of athletes in martial arts. Methods. Testing, experimental studies, statistical methods. Results. The study involved 79 highly skilled athletes specializing in Greco-Roman and free-style wrestling. The group of research methods included determination of functional hemispheric asymmetry of the brain using the field-dependent test (the version of Color & Word Test). To study the state of cognitive processes of verbal stimuli perception the method of Establishment of regularities was used. Characteristics of visual perception of nonverbal stimuli and operational thinking were evaluated by the method of Perceptual Speed. It was found that the functional asymmetry of the brain in highly skilled athletes is reflected in the higher field dependence on the influence of external stimuli (adaptive cognitive strategy of perception and processing of information), whereas the presence of symmetry of the brain in athletes is reflected in the higher field independency of the influence of information from external environment (autonomous cognitive strategy of perception and processing of information). The results indicate that autonomous cognitive strategy is characterized by greater possibilities for the manifestation of cognitive functions, in particular, the better ability to quickly and qualitatively perceive and process external information, as compared to athletes with functional asymmetry of the cerebral hemispheres.

Cognitive Response Styles and the Construction of Personal Narratives: Implications for Psychopathology in Young Adults

We investigated the concurrent relationships among life story variables (autobiographical reasoning), cognitive variables (negative explanatory style, cognitive reappraisal strategies, and rumination), and psychopathology (symptoms of depression and anxiety). Narratives of life story high, low, and turning points were collected from 164 young adults. Findings for negative self-event connections are reported here. Young adults who made some, as opposed to no, negative self-event connections reported greater symptoms of depression and anxiety and were more likely to report higher levels of ruminative thinking and less likely to use adaptive cognitive reappraisal strategies. Whether participants drew negative self-event connections predicted depression over and above the variance explained by negative explanatory style and cognitive reappraisal strategies and interacted with explanatory style to predict depression. In contrast, negative self-event connections did not incrementally predict anxiety over and above the cognitive variables. Results are discussed in terms of our current understanding of the factors that predict psychological distress.

Are there alternative adaptive strategies to human pro-sociality? The role of collaborative morality in the emergence of personality variation and autistic traits

ABSTRACTSelection pressures to better understand others’ thoughts and feelings are seen as a primary driving force in human cognitive evolution. Yet might the evolution of social cognition be more complex than we assume, with more than one strategy towards social understanding and developing a positive pro-social reputation? Here we argue that social buffering of vulnerabilities through the emergence of collaborative morality will have opened new niches for adaptive cognitive strategies and widened personality variation. Such strategies include those that that do not depend on astute social perception or abilities to think recursively about others’ thoughts and feelings. We particularly consider how a perceptual style based on logic and detail, bringing certain enhanced technical and social abilities which compensate for deficits in complex social understanding could be advantageous at low levels in certain ecological and cultural contexts. ‘Traits of autism’ may have promoted innovation in archaeological material culture during the late Palaeolithic in the context of the mutual interdependence of different social strategies, which in turn contributed to the rise of innovation and large scale social networks.

Daily hassles, cognitive emotion regulation and anxiety in children

ABSTRACTEvidence has suggested that some cognitive emotion regulation strategies people adopt when they encounter stress may exacerbate anxiety, whereas some may help to buffer the impeding effects of stress. However, studies were conducted mainly with adolescents and adults and research done with children is limited. The present study tested how childhood anxiety was related to cognitive emotion regulation strategies and daily hassles, including whether regulation strategies mediate the relation between daily hassles and anxiety. Data were collected from 999 Hong Kong-Chinese children (56.6% boys), aged between 9 and 12 (mean age = 9.90). Results showed that stress was a strong positive predictor of anxiety. Furthermore, rumination (reiterating negative events and emotions) and catastrophizing (envisaging the worst results of a negative event) coping strategies were vulnerability factors for childhood anxiety, whereas positive reappraisal served a protective function. Results also revealed that rumination and catastrophizing partially mediated the effects of stress on anxiety. It is suggested that mental health education should be provided to help children to understand the impeding effects of maladaptive cognitive strategies and to practice the use of adaptive cognitive strategies. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

The winner takes it all: Event-related brain potentials reveal enhanced motivated attention toward athletes’ nonverbal signals of leading

ABSTRACTObservers of sports can reliably estimate who is leading or trailing based on nonverbal cues. Most likely, this is due to an adaptive mechanism of detecting motivationally relevant signals such as high status, superiority, and dominance. We reasoned that the relevance of leading athletes should lead to a sustained attentional prioritization. To test this idea, we recorded electroencephalography while 45 participants saw brief stills of athletes and estimated whether they were leading or trailing. Based on these recordings, we assessed event-related potentials and focused on the late positive complex (LPC), a well-established signature of controlled attention to motivationally relevant visual stimuli. Confirming our expectation, we found that LPC amplitude was significantly enhanced for leading as compared to trailing athletes. Moreover, this modulation was significantly related to behavioral performance on the score-estimation task. The present data suggest that subtle cues related to athletic supremacy are reliably differentiated in the human brain, involving a strong attentional orienting toward leading athletes. This mechanism might be part of an adaptive cognitive strategy that guides human social behavior.

Stress-Related Growth among Suicide Survivors: The Role of Interpersonal and Cognitive Factors

Although stress-related growth had been documented in bereaved individuals, it is still not clear to what extent it can be experienced by suicide survivors or which psychological processes facilitate it. The current study examined the role of interpersonal factors—self disclosure and social supports as well as cognitive coping strategies in stress-related growth among suicide survivors. The sample consisted of 135 suicide survivors (104 women and 31 men) aged 18–70. All participants completed the stress-related growth questionnaire as well as instruments measuring interpersonal activities, cognitive strategies, and demographic characteristics concerning the bereavement. The findings showed significant positive correlations between time elapsed since death, self-disclosure, social support, adaptive cognitive strategies, and stress-related growth. Furthermore, hierarchical regression analysis revealed that together these variables accounted for over 38% of the variance in stress-related growth. Interpersonal activities such as talking and interacting with others, as well as a cognitive focus on planning for the future emerged as important factors in personal transformation after suicide loss.

COGNITIVE STYLES OF STUDENTS, STUDYING DOUBLE SPECIALTIES WITH DIFFERENT SUCCESS LEVEL

The article analyses the problem of psychological determination of the successful double specialty education in higher institution. The question of peculiarities of cognitive styles affecting mastering of subjects of a certain specialty and two specialties simultaneously is posed. On the basis of the analysis of the history of cognitive style studies two approaches to understanding their nature are distinguished: as constant and not interconnected peculiarities of cognitive activity and as adaptive cognitive strategies formed by an individual to solve different problems. We introduce some research data of cognitive styles of students with different degree of success in mastering a double specialty History and English Philology: successful in learning the foreign language, successful in learning History and weak and successful in subjects of both specialties. A set of methods identifying the following parameters of cognitive styles was used in the study: “fielddependency – fieldindependency”, “analyticity – syntheticity”, “impulsiveness – reflexivity”, “intellectual lability” and “leading representative systems”. It was brought to light that groups of respondents possess significant differences in every parameter of the cognitive styles. On the basis of analytical interpretation of the research data the conclusion is drawn that a cognitive style can be both specialized and quite flexible, adaptive, which depends on the range of modalities used for perception and digestion of information (what modalities are used, in what quantity and combination).

Facing emotions in narcolepsy with cataplexy: haemodynamic and behavioural responses during emotional stimulation

Narcolepsy with cataplexy is a complex sleep disorder that affects the modulation of emotions: cataplexy, the key symptom of narcolepsy, is indeed strongly linked with emotions that usually trigger the episodes. Our study aimed to investigate haemodynamic and behavioural responses during emotional stimulation in narco-cataplexy. Twelve adult drug-naive narcoleptic patients (five males; age: 33.3 ± 9.4 years) and 12 healthy controls (five males; age: 30.9 ± 9.5 years) were exposed to emotional stimuli (pleasant, unpleasant and neutral pictures). Heart rate, arterial blood pressure and mean cerebral blood flow velocity of the middle cerebral arteries were continuously recorded using photoplethysmography and Doppler ultrasound. Ratings of valence and arousal and coping strategies were scored by the Self-Assessment Manikin and by questionnaires, respectively. Narcoleptic patients' haemodynamic responses to pictures overlapped with the data obtained from controls: decrease of heart rate and increase of mean cerebral blood flow velocity regardless of pictures' content, increase of systolic blood pressure during the pleasant condition, and relative reduction of heart rate during pleasant and unpleasant conditions. However, when compared with controls, narcoleptic patients reported lower arousal scores during the pleasant and neutral stimulation, and lower valence scores during the pleasant condition, respectively, and also a lower score at the 'focus on and venting of emotions' dimensions of coping. Our results suggested that adult narcoleptic patients, compared with healthy controls, inhibited their emotion-expressive behaviour to emotional stimulation, and that may be related to the development of adaptive cognitive strategies to face emotions avoiding cataplexy.

Daily Use of Reappraisal Decreases Negative Emotions Toward Daily Unpleasant Events

Previous research has demonstrated that using adaptive cognitive strategies reduces negative emotions, although high-neuroticism individuals are unable to use these adaptive strategies as effectively as low-neuroticism individuals. This diary study explored whether daily use of adaptive strategies would improve their effectiveness. Results suggest that with regular practice, participants (including those high in neuroticism) could effectively use reappraisal to reduce their negative emotions. Hierarchical linear modeling showed that individuals who reappraised daily experienced less negative emotions toward unpleasant events than those who did not use any strategy or who focused on the unpleasant events. This research suggests that daily use of adaptive strategies could help people reduce negative emotions.

Cognitive regulation of negative affect in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) exhibit common cognitive deficits that may impede the capacity for self-regulating affect. We examined the use of particular cognitive strategies for regulating negative affect in SZ and BD, and their associations with levels of mood symptomatology. Participants were 126 SZ, 97 BD, and 81 healthy controls (HC) who completed the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS). Patients with SZ and BD reported more frequent rumination, catastrophising and self-blame, and less use of putting into perspective, relative to HC. Additionally, SZ patients were more likely to engage in other-blame, compared to HC. The most consistent predictors of symptomatology for SZ were self-blame and catastrophising, while for BD were rumination and reduced positive reappraisal. These findings demonstrate maladaptive use of cognitive strategies to self-regulate negative affect in SZ and BD, resembling those reported previously for unipolar depression. The ineffective use of adaptive cognitive reframing strategies in both patient groups may reflect the impact of their shared cognitive deficits, and requires further investigation. Remediation of cognitive capacities contributing to ineffective self-regulation may facilitate reduced mood symptomatology in SZ and BD.

Anger, Coping, and Quality of Life in Female Cancer Patients

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among anger, coping, and quality of life (QoL) in female cancer patients. We asked 144 female cancer patients with either a malignant or a benign diagnosis to complete the Profile of Mood States (POMS; McNair, Lorr, & Droppleman, 1971), the Brief COPE questionnaire (Carver, 1997), and the Quality of Life in Adult Cancer Survivors (QLACS; Avis et al., 2005) questionnaire. The total score indicating a low level of anger was significantly negatively associated with adaptive cognitive strategies and significantly positively associated with maladaptive coping strategies. Correlation analysis showed that there was a relationship between QoL factors and low anger scores. This knowledge may be incorporated in psychological intervention in the form of recognition and understanding of anger in cancer patients.

A simple artificial life model explains irrational behavior in human decision-making.

Although praised for their rationality, humans often make poor decisions, even in simple situations. In the repeated binary choice experiment, an individual has to choose repeatedly between the same two alternatives, where a reward is assigned to one of them with fixed probability. The optimal strategy is to perseverate with choosing the alternative with the best expected return. Whereas many species perseverate, humans tend to match the frequencies of their choices to the frequencies of the alternatives, a sub-optimal strategy known as probability matching. Our goal was to find the primary cognitive constraints under which a set of simple evolutionary rules can lead to such contrasting behaviors. We simulated the evolution of artificial populations, wherein the fitness of each animat (artificial animal) depended on its ability to predict the next element of a sequence made up of a repeating binary string of varying size. When the string was short relative to the animats’ neural capacity, they could learn it and correctly predict the next element of the sequence. When it was long, they could not learn it, turning to the next best option: to perseverate. Animats from the last generation then performed the task of predicting the next element of a non-periodical binary sequence. We found that, whereas animats with smaller neural capacity kept perseverating with the best alternative as before, animats with larger neural capacity, which had previously been able to learn the pattern of repeating strings, adopted probability matching, being outperformed by the perseverating animats. Our results demonstrate how the ability to make predictions in an environment endowed with regular patterns may lead to probability matching under less structured conditions. They point to probability matching as a likely by-product of adaptive cognitive strategies that were crucial in human evolution, but may lead to sub-optimal performances in other environments.

Disconfirmed expectations of infant behaviours and postnatal depressive symptoms among parents

Objectives: A number of studies have examined the relationship between disconfirmed expectations about early parenthood and postnatal depressive symptoms. Most have focused on primiparous women, yet new fathers and multiparous parents also develop depressive symptoms following childbirth. The current study examined whether primiparous and multiparous mothers’ and fathers’ antenatal expectations about infant feeding and sleeping behaviours were consistent with their later experiences and whether disconfirmed expectations were associated with postnatal depressive symptoms. Method: Thirty-five mothers and 24 fathers in Brisbane Australia completed questionnaires during the third trimester of pregnancy and again in the first 16 weeks post-delivery. Results: Parents’ expectations of infant behaviours were matched or exceeded by their postnatal experience. Discrepancies between antenatal expectations and postnatal experiences were not associated with parity or severity of depressive symptoms in the early postnatal period. Conclusion: Primiparous and multiparous parents typically held realistic expectations of infant sleeping and feeding behaviours relative to their postnatal experience. A small group of parents held less favourable antenatal expectations which may be an adaptive cognitive strategy used to protect parents against negative postnatal experience. Implications of these findings for research and clinical practice are discussed.

Beyond Antipsychotics: Pharmacologically-Augmented Cognitive Therapies (PACTs) for Schizophrenia

The neuropathology of schizophrenia is substantial in scope and complexity. In patients, structural abnormalities in about 20 brain regions span wide swaths of cortical and subcortical tissue, reflecting processes presumably well advanced at birth. Roughly half as many regions are abnormal in unaffected relatives (cf. Swerdlow, 2011). Within any region, laminar synaptic and cellular arrangements may be perturbed, replacing ‘intended' spatial and chemical connections with dysfunctional alternatives. The likelihood that medications will functionally untangle these chaotic and dispersed connections in schizophrenia seems increasingly far-fetched. Cognitive therapies, broadly including cognitive-behavioral and neurorehabilitative therapies and cognitive training, may reduce symptoms and restore function in schizophrenia (McGurk et al, 2007; and Wykes et al, 2008) by engaging healthy neural systems to learn adaptive cognitive and behavioral strategies. The biology underlying learning-based neuroplasticity has been elaborated at levels extending from molecules to systems, and studies are now identifying neural changes accompanying clinical benefits of these specialized ‘learning therapies.' Conceivably, these neural changes and their corresponding therapeutic impact might be augmented via medications. Although controlling psychosis benefits ongoing cognitive interventions, drugs with pro-cognitive effects (rather than antipsychotics per se) might more specifically, and perhaps synergistically, enhance the clinical benefits of CTs. Drugs that enhance specific components of neurocognition, eg, working memory (WM), might be predicted to yield clinical benefits in schizophrenia only if paired with interventions that access those components, ie, utilize/place demands on enhanced WM. Similar reasoning underlies the use of anabolic steroids to promote exercise-increased muscle mass, or perhaps more importantly, the use of pro-extinction drugs to enhance therapeutic benefits of cognitive therapies for anxiety disorders (Ressler et al, 2004). Conversely, specific pro-cognitive drugs might be effective in augmenting the clinical benefits of cognitive therapies in schizophrenia even if (as existing data may suggest) they are ineffective when administered without the demands of cognitive therapies. Initial attempts to develop pharmacologically-augmented cognitive therapies (PACTs) are in progress, using drugs designed to overcome neuropathological changes in schizophrenia (eg, d-cycloserine (Gottlieb et al, 2011)); I have suggested that an alternative strategy might be to utilize medications that enhance spared neural functions in these patients (Swerdlow, 2011). Evidence for the requisite ‘spared' healthy neural circuitry in any given patient, and hence a target for PACTs, might be provided by specific neurophysiological changes in response to a single drug challenge. The use of a ‘test dose' to predict clinical benefit has been successful with interventions ranging from hormones to anti-Parkinsonian therapies to bronchodilators. The goal of enhancing ‘spared' function departs from the prevailing failed strategy of trying to use drugs to ‘undo' a lifetime of schizophrenia-related neuropathology. Based on the genetic and neurobiological heterogeneity of schizophrenia, biomarkers might identify subgroups of patients most sensitive to specific PACTs; in some cases, these biomarkers might include neurophysiological measures that identify spared neural circuits in these patients (Javitt et al, 2008). Importantly, the use of PACTs shifts our scientific focus from characterizing the widespread (and I submit, uncorrectable) neuropathology and its molecular antecedents in schizophrenia, to identifying areas of neurobiological resilience and function. In this strategy, our patients' spared neural resources become the next generation of therapeutic targets for drug development.

Cognitive regulation of emotion in bipolar I disorder and unaffected biological relatives

We examined the use of particular cognitive strategies for regulating negative emotion in relation to mood and temperament in BD-I, unaffected relatives of bipolar patients (UR), and healthy controls (HC). Participants were 105 patients with BD-I, 124 UR, and 63 HC; all participants completed the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), and the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS). The BD-I group reported more frequent use of rumination, catastrophizing and self-blame, and less frequent use of putting into perspective, in response to negative life events, relative to the UR and HC groups. In BD-I, more frequent use of rumination was associated with increased DASS and HPS scores. By contrast, within the UR group, more frequent use of catastrophizing and self-blame were associated with increased DASS and HPS scores. In all participants, less frequent use of adaptive cognitive reframing strategies (e.g. putting into perspective) were associated with increased DASS scores. Both BD-I and UR groups reported more frequent use of maladaptive regulatory strategies previously associated with depression. Emotion regulation strategies of catastrophizing, self-blame, and cognitive reframing techniques may be associated with vulnerability for mood disorders, with the latter active within the general population regardless of biological vulnerability to disorder.

Neural Correlates of the Use of Psychological Distancing to Regulate Responses to Negative Social Cues: A Study of Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

Emotional instability is a defining feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD); yet, little is understood about its underlying neural correlates. One possible contributing factor to emotional instability is a failure to adequately employ adaptive cognitive regulatory strategies such as psychological distancing. To determine whether there are differences in neural dynamics underlying this control strategy between BPD patients and healthy control (HC) subjects, blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging signals were acquired as 18 BPD and 16 HC subjects distanced from or simply looked at pictures depicting social interactions. Contrasts in signal between distance and look conditions were compared between groups. Borderline personality disorder patients showed a different pattern of activation compared with HC subjects when looking at negative versus neutral pictures. When distancing versus looking at negative pictures, both groups showed decreased negative affect ratings and increased activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, areas near/along the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and posterior cingulate/precuneus regions. However, the BPD group showed less BOLD signal change in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and IPS, less deactivation in the amygdala, and greater activation in the superior temporal sulcus and superior frontal gyrus. Borderline personality disorder and HC subjects display different neural dynamics while passively viewing social emotional stimuli. In addition, BPD patients do not engage the cognitive control regions to the extent that HCs do when employing a distancing strategy to regulate emotional reactions, which may be a factor contributing to the affective instability of BPD.

The role of the hippocampus in mediating emotional responses to nicotine and cannabinoids: a possible neural substrate for functional interactions

The endocannabinoid system is involved in the regulation of behavioural and physiological stress-related responses. Nicotine exerts complex effects on emotional behaviour, and its withdrawal may result in depressive and anxiogenic-like symptoms. Cannabinoid receptor agonists and nicotine induce biphasic effects in diverse tests of unconditioned anxiety, alter adrenocortical activity and affect hippocampus-dependent contextual fear conditioning. Upon exposure to stressful stimuli, central endocannabinoid and cholinergic systems appear to be activated in key limbic areas such as hippocampus and amygdala, which might contribute to adaptive cognitive and emotional strategies to cope with aversive situations. Numerous studies indicate the existence of functional interactions between nicotine and cannabinoids, particularly in relation to anxiety-related processes. An overlapping distribution of CB1 and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the hippocampus is observed and the endocannabinoid system exerts a modulatory role over the hippocampal cholinergic system. In this review, we point to the hippocampus as a relevant neural substrate for cannabinoid-nicotine interactions, notably as regards emotional responses. After a general description of the cannabinoid and nicotinic systems, we review their implications in unconditioned anxiety, depressive-like behaviour and fear conditioning. Then we discuss the role of both systems in modulating stress-induced changes at cellular, endocrine and behavioural levels and their possible involvement in hippocampal neurogenesis. Although we mainly focus on animal data, some relevant human studies are also discussed.

Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ)

The main purpose of this study was to validate a French version of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). A sample of 224 young adults completed the French translation of the CERQ and the Beck Depression Inventory II. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses showed that a nine-factor model also explained the data collected with the French version. Internal reliability scores for each strategy ranged from .68 to .87. As in the original version, we found that the emotion regulation strategies could be grouped into adaptive and less adaptive cognitive regulation strategies. In addition, we observed that Self-blame and Rumination are key cognitive regulation strategies predicting whether high or low depressive symptoms are reported.

Processing of food stimuli is selectively enhanced during insulin-induced hypoglycemia in healthy men

Recently it has been reported that during insulin-induced hypoglycemia selective attention is directed to food stimuli suggesting an adaptive cognitive strategy to escape from this potentially dangerous metabolic state. Here, we tested this hypothesis using a short-term memory task. We also aimed to define a hypoglycemic threshold level at which such an adaptive cognitive strategy first occurs. Fifteen healthy men underwent stepwise hypoglycemic (plasma glucose: 4.1-3.6-3.1-2.6 mmol/l) and euglycemic clamp experiments. Clamps were performed in a single blind fashion within a cross-over design with the order balanced across subjects. During the clamps cognitive function tests (short-term recall of food-related and non-food-related words; Stroop task) were applied at baseline and each hypoglycemic plateau, and at the corresponding time intervals of the euglycemic clamp. Performance on all cognitive function tests applied deteriorated during the hypoglycemic as compared to the euglcemic clamp (all P<0.02). Separate analyses at each hypoglycemic plateau revealed that food and non-food related short-term memory was similar during baseline and mild hypoglycemia. However, at the hypoglycemic target level of 2.6 mmol/l recall of food related words was higher than non-food related words when compared to the euglycemic control clamp condition (p=0.024). Performance on the word-color conflict Stroop task became significantly impaired first at the lowest hypoglycemic plateau (2.6 mmol/l), while performance on the Stroop subtests 'color naming' and 'word reading' were already impaired at higher plasma glucose levels (3.6 and 3.1 mmol/l; respectively). Collectively, data of the Stroop task indicate that the control of attention via executive mechanisms is less sensitive to insulin-induced hypoglycemia than pre-attentive automated stimulus processing (reading, naming). If executive control of attention becomes affected by hypoglycemia, cognitive resources appear to be preferentially allocated to the processing of food stimuli.

The role of different types of instrumentality in motivation, study strategies, and performance: know why you learn, so you'll know what you learn!

Two theories in the field of motivation and achievement, namely the future time perspective theory and goal theory, result in conflicting recommendations for enhancing students' motivation, because of their differential emphasis on the task at hand and on the future consequences of a task. We will present a framework consisting of four types of instrumentality that combines both perspectives. The implications of those different types for goal orientation, motivation, cognitive strategies, study habits and performance are investigated. Participants were a group of 184 first-year nurse students with ages ranging from 18 to 45 years. Questionnaires were administered that measured instrumentality, goal orientation, motivation, deep and surface level learning strategies, study habits, and a manipulation check. At the end of the year, exam scores were collected. The results showed that different types of instrumentality are related differently to the motivational, cognitive and achievement measures. Being internally regulated and perceiving the utility of the courses resulted both in a more adaptive goal orientation and higher intrinsic motivation, which led to the use of more adaptive cognitive strategies and to better study habits, which ultimately enhanced performance. Linking performance to extrinsic rewards and not seeing the utility of the course for the future yielded the opposite pattern. Type of instrumentality has indeed a differential influence on motivational, cognitive, and behavioural variables.