2026-09-16 · paper-digest
Hendijani and Steel: Letting people choose moved nothing; a number in the corner of the screen did — Fukai Reads
A peer-reviewed paper by two authors from the University of Tehran and the University of Calgary (Frontiers in Psychology, published 13 August 2026). In a memory test with 270 people it compared letting participants choose against paying them per correct answer: the reward added about seven recalled words, while choice produced no statistically confirmed effect. Eye tracking showed the reward's effect ran through whether people looked at the on-screen reward display.
