The relationship between mental toughness and cognitive control: Evidence from the item‐method directed forgetting task

Previous research by the authors (Dewhurst, Anderson. Cotter, Crust, & Clough, 2012) found that mental toughness, as measured by the Mental Toughness Questionnaire 48 (MTQ48; Clough, Earle, & Sewell, 2002), was significantly associated with performance on the list-method directed forgetting task. The current study extends this finding to the item-method directed forgetting task in which the instruction to Remember or Forget is given after each item in the study list. A significant positive association was found between the correct recognition of Remember words and the emotional control subscale of the MTQ48. Neither the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (Sheard, Golby, & van Wersch, 2009) nor the Big Five Inventory (McCrae & Costa, 1987) accounted for significant variance in the recognition of Remember or Forget words. The findings are discussed in terms of the relationship between mental toughness and cognitive control.