B - 108 The Trait Need for Cognition Moderates Story Learning but Not Other Memory Tests

Abstract Objective To examine the effect of the personality trait Need for Cognition (NFC) on memory to determine if NFC moderates memory through positive effort. Method Participants included 174 undergraduate students (74.1% female, Mage = 20.10, SD = 1.51). Measures included the 18-item Need for Cognition Questionnaire, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III, and the Wechsler Memory Scale-III (WMS-III). Results NFC moderated the relationship between Logical Memory I (LM I) and Full Scale IQ (FSIQ). LM I (B = 1.47, SE = 0.31, p < 0.001), NFC (B = 0.41, SE = 0.09, p < 0.001), and their interaction (B = 0.09, SE = 0.04, p = 0.017), accounted for 28% of the variance in FSIQ (F(3, 159) = 20.77, p < 0.001). NFC did not moderate the relationship between Logical Memory II (LM II) and FSIQ. NFC was significantly correlated with FSIQ (r = 0.41, p < 0.001), LM I (r = 0.26, p < 0.001), LM II (r = 0.26, p < 0.001), and Spatial Span (r = 0.17, p = 0.035), but was not related to other aspects of memory. Conclusions High NFC individuals may encode more information when initially learning a story due to higher interest in the story context. This appears to improve initial learning of the story but not later recall. Although NFC was correlated with Spatial Span and both immediate and delayed recall for LM, NFC was not related to WMS-III Faces, Family Pictures, or Verbal Paired Associates, which suggests NFC may affect learning through increased test engagement or motivation.