Daily Affective-Motivational Experiences During Exam Preparation: Feedback Loops, Stability, and Change Over Time

This study examined daily feedback loops and fluctuations in medical students’ affective-motivational experiences during a 40-day exam preparation period. We tested whether motivational states (cognitive appraisals of daily goals and self-efficacy) and emotional states (achievement emotions such as joy, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom) would predict each other via internal feedback loops within and between daily learning sessions. Furthermore, we investigated the extent to which affective-motivational experiences remained stable or fluctuated from one situation to the next, using carryover (autoregressive effects), instability (rMSSD), and variability (within-person SD) as dyamic measures. Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling in Mplus (DSEM) identified both positive and negative feedback loops within and between learning sessions. For example, students who reported higher cognitive appraisals prior to learning experienced higher levels of positive emotions after learning, and an increase in positive emotions following learning was associated with an increase in cognitive appraisals the next day prior to learning. These findings indicate that short-term feedback processes can give rise to virtuous (or vicious) motivational cycles. Moreover, the time series analysis demonstrated that negative emotions, particularly anxiety and boredom, exhibited greater day-to-day stability (higher autoregressive coefficients, lower rMSSD, and wSD) compared to positive emotions and anger. Stability was also higher before learning than after learning. These findings offer insights into the regulatory patterns of motivation and emotion during learning.

This manuscript has been submitted for publication and is currently under review.