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INTRODUCTION
Stereotype threat research provides compelling evidence for the contribution of non-neurological factors to cognitive test performance. The assumption behind stereotype threat is that a member of a particular group, when faced with a task thought to be poorly performed by members of that group, feels threatened by the inferiority stereotype, which is assumed to interfere with his/her performance (Steele, 1997). While stereotype threat was initially identified as a factor contributing to observed cognitive differences between racial/ethnic groups, it has also been shown to affect cognitive performance in individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds (Croizet & Claire, 1998), has been implicated as an explanation of sex differences on cognitive tasks (Leyens et al., 2000; Spencer et al., 1999; Walsh et al., 1999), and has been suggested as an explanation for cognitive decline in aging (Hess et al., 2003; Levy, 1996). Recently, Suhr & Gunstad (2002) applied the concept of stereotype threat to mild head injury. In that study, individuals with history of mild head injury told that they were selected for participation in a study examining the cognitive effects of head injury performed worse on measures of general intellect and memory, relative to matched controls who were unaware of the specific reasons they were selected for the study or the specific goal of the study, a phenomenon they called "diagnosis threat."
Steele (1997) suggested that stereotype threat calls up negative expectations for individual performance, leading to worse performance. Steele and colleagues (Steele, 1997; Steele & Aronson, 1995) have suggested that this effect is possibly mediated by increasing anxiety, causing distraction and/or less efficient cognitive processing, or by reducing effort provided on the cognitive tasks. There is evidence that anxiety and stress can lead to diminished cognitive performance (Baumeister & Showers, 1984; Gass, 2002; Gass et al., 1994; Gass & Daniel, 1990; Geen, 1991; Sarason, 1980). However, evidence for the relation of anxiety to cognitive performance under stereotype threat conditions is mixed at best, with several studies showing no relation (Aronson et al., 1999; Hess et al., 2003; Steele & Aronson, 1995), and others suggesting that anxiety may partially explain the effect (Osborne, 2001, Spencer et al., 1999). The role of motivation/effort in explaining the stereotype threat effect has been less frequently addressed. Given that recent neuropsychological...