Brain intertwined with blooming tree, symbolizing cognitive growth and motivation.

Unlock Your Potential: How Cognitive Skills and Motivation Shape Your Future

Samir D’Costa in Mind & Education June 2025 • 4 min read.

"Discover the hidden link between patience, cognitive abilities, and the drive to succeed. Are you maximizing your potential?"

We all want to make the best decisions for our future. Whether it's saving for retirement, investing in our education, or simply choosing a healthy lifestyle, our ability to delay gratification and plan ahead plays a crucial role. But what if your inherent cognitive abilities and the spark of motivation deep inside you also influence these choices?

For years, researchers have been exploring the relationship between time preferences – how much we value immediate versus future rewards – and cognitive abilities. Studies have shown that people who perform well on cognitive tests tend to be more patient, willing to wait for larger rewards down the line. But the underlying reasons for this connection have remained a puzzle.

A groundbreaking study by Rostislav Staněk and Ondřej Krčál delves deeper into this relationship, investigating whether the link between patience and test scores is driven by pure cognitive ability or by intrinsic motivation – that inner drive that pushes us to excel. Their findings offer valuable insights into how we can better understand and harness our potential.

The Patience Puzzle: Unraveling Cognitive Skills and Motivation

Brain intertwined with blooming tree, symbolizing cognitive growth and motivation.

The original study highlights a fascinating trend: people who score higher on cognitive tests often demonstrate greater patience. They are more willing to forgo immediate rewards for larger benefits in the future. But is this simply because they're smarter, or is there something more at play? Are these individuals simply better equipped to understand long-term consequences, or does their inherent motivation also play a significant role in their decision-making?

To answer this question, Staněk and Krčál designed a clever experiment involving cognitive tests and time-preference assessments. Participants were asked to complete tasks measuring their cognitive abilities, such as Raven's matrices (a nonverbal IQ test) and coding speed tests. Crucially, some participants were offered monetary incentives for good performance, while others were not. This allowed the researchers to isolate the effects of intrinsic motivation.

Incentivized vs. Unincentivized Tests: Some participants received a piece rate for each correct answer, while others received a fixed fee.
Time Preference Measurement: Participants made choices between receiving money now versus receiving a larger amount later.
Cognitive Ability Tests: Raven’s matrices and coding speed tests were used to measure cognitive skills.

The results revealed a striking difference. When cognitive tests were incentivized, higher scores correlated with greater patience. However, when the tests were not incentivized, this correlation disappeared. This suggests that the link between cognitive ability and patience is not solely driven by inherent intelligence but is significantly influenced by motivation.

Empower Your Future: Actionable Steps to Boost Your Potential

So, what does this mean for you? The key takeaway is that both cognitive skills and motivation are crucial for making sound decisions and achieving long-term success. By actively engaging in activities that challenge your mind and fuel your inner drive, you can unlock your full potential. Here are a few practical strategies to get started:

About this Article -

This article was crafted using a human-AI hybrid and collaborative approach. AI assisted our team with initial drafting, research insights, identifying key questions, and image generation. Our human editors guided topic selection, defined the angle, structured the content, ensured factual accuracy and relevance, refined the tone, and conducted thorough editing to deliver helpful, high-quality information.See our About page for more information.

Everything You Need To Know

How do cognitive skills relate to making decisions about the future, like saving or investing?

Cognitive skills, specifically the ability to perform well on cognitive tests like Raven's matrices and coding speed tests, have been linked to patience. Individuals with higher cognitive abilities tend to be more willing to delay immediate gratification for larger future rewards. This suggests that cognitive skills play a role in making future-oriented decisions, such as saving for retirement or investing in education, as these choices require valuing long-term benefits over immediate ones. However, the presence of intrinsic motivation also impacts decisions.

What role does motivation play in the connection between cognitive abilities and patience?

Motivation is a key factor. A study by Staněk and Krčál found that when cognitive tests were incentivized, higher scores correlated with greater patience. However, when the tests were not incentivized, this correlation disappeared. This indicates that the link between cognitive ability and patience is not solely due to inherent intelligence but is significantly influenced by intrinsic motivation. Motivation, the inner drive to excel, helps to focus cognitive skills towards achieving long-term goals.

Can you explain the experiment Staněk and Krčál conducted to study patience and cognitive skills?

Staněk and Krčál designed an experiment where participants completed cognitive ability tests, including Raven's matrices and coding speed tests. Some participants received monetary incentives (piece rate for each correct answer), while others received a fixed fee (unincentivized). They also measured time preference by asking participants to choose between receiving money now versus a larger amount later. The key finding was that a correlation between cognitive ability and patience only appeared when the cognitive tests were incentivized, highlighting the role of intrinsic motivation.

What are Raven's matrices, and how were they used in the study about patience and cognitive skills?

Raven's matrices are a nonverbal IQ test used to measure cognitive abilities. In the study by Staněk and Krčál, Raven's matrices, along with coding speed tests, were used to assess participants' cognitive skills. The scores on Raven's matrices were then correlated with measures of patience (time preference) to determine the relationship between cognitive abilities and the willingness to delay gratification. The presence or absence of incentives during the tests allowed researchers to isolate the impact of intrinsic motivation on this relationship.

If someone scores poorly on cognitive tests like Raven's matrices, does that mean they are destined to struggle with patience and long-term planning?

Not necessarily. While the study suggests a correlation between cognitive skills (as measured by tests like Raven's matrices) and patience, particularly when motivation is present, it doesn't imply a deterministic relationship. The absence of incentives during cognitive tests weakened the correlation between test scores and patience, showing that motivation can compensate for lower scores. Individuals can improve their patience and long-term planning abilities by actively engaging in activities that challenge their minds and cultivate intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, cognitive abilities are not fixed; they can be developed and enhanced through learning and practice.