The Impact of Time Between Cognitive Tasks on Performance: Evidence from Advanced Placement Exams / Ian Fillmore, Devin G. Pope.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fillmore, Ian.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Pope, Devin G.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w18436.

NBER working paper series no. w18436

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2012.

Summary:

In many education and work environments, economic agents must perform several mental tasks in a short period of time. As with physical fatigue, it is likely that cognitive fatigue can occur and affect performance if a series of mental tasks are scheduled close together. In this paper, we identify the impact of time between cognitive tasks on performance in a particular context: the taking of Advanced Placement (AP) exams by high-school students. We exploit the fact that AP exam dates change from year to year, so that students who take two subject exams in one year may have a different number of days between the exams than students who take the same two exams in a different year. We find strong evidence that a shorter amount of time between exams is associated with lower scores, particularly on the second exam. Our estimates suggest that students who take exams with 10 days of separation are 8% more likely to pass both exams than students who take the same two exams with only 1 day of separation.

Notes:

Print version record

October 2012.