Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, Vol 13(3), Sep 2026, 333-352; doi:10.1037/cns0000410
The think-aloud interview is a psychological procedure used to measure an individual’s cognition in solving a task. However, very little is known about how an individual’s conscious experience of the interview might be associated with their performance during the interview. This is consequential as data derived from think-aloud studies are often used to validate high-stakes educational cognitive tasks. This study primarily explored the relationship between an individuals’ conscious experience during the think-aloud interview and their problem-solving accuracy. Sixty-six undergraduate students, enrolled in a teacher education program, were invited to think aloud as they solved four math tasks. Students were also invited to complete a series of surveys to measure the aspects of their conscious experience, including attitudes, motivation, and feelings, about the think-aloud interview. Regression analyses revealed that participants who had more positive conscious experiences about the think-aloud interview as measured by global direct feelings about the interview exhibited more accurate problem solving than those who had less-positive conscious experiences of the interview. Moreover, students who reported higher intrinsic motivation for the tasks and less-negative affective attitudes about making mistakes tended to report better conscious experiences about the thinking aloud interview. The continued use of this method with cautions about the conscious experience of participants is discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)