Worrisome topics, such as climate change, economic crises, or the Covid-19 pandemic, are increasingly present and pervasive due to digital media and social networks. Do worries triggered by such topics affect the cognitive capacities of the youth? In an online experiment during the Covid-19 pandemic (N=1503), we test how the cognitive performance of university students responds when exposed to topics discussing (i) current mental health issues related to social restrictions or (ii) future labor market uncertainties linked to the economic contraction. Moreover, we study how such response is affected by a performance goal.
We find that the labor market topic increases cognitive performance, when the latter is motivated by a goal. The positive reaction is mainly concentrated among students with larger financial and social resources, which points at an inequality-widening mechanism.
Conversely, we find no effect after the mental health topic. We even find a weak negative response among those mentally vulnerable, when payout is not conditioned on reaching a goal.