Table 4.

Instructions Used for Experimental (DT or DT-reduced) Groups. The Introduction and Concluding Part of the Threat and Benefit Instructions Was Common across These Two Conditions

	Instruction type
	Diagnosis threat*	DT-reduced
Introduction	This study entitled ‘Cognitive and Affective Functioning in Adults’ is actually assessing performance of cognitive functioning skills such as working memory, attention and information processing in individuals who have experienced a mild traumatic brain injury in their past (at least 3 months ago) that was a result of any contact forces (i.e. hit or fall) or acceleration/deceleration trauma (i.e. vehicle accident). You were asked to participate further in this study due to your history of sustaining a prior mild traumatic brain injury.
Middle	Past research has shown that individuals who have had a mild traumatic brain injury do not perform as well as individuals who have not had a mild traumatic brain injury on tests of memory, and attention, even though the injury was sustained quite some time ago. Research has also shown that memory and attention abilities are not under the personal control of the individual. Therefore it is suggested that cognitive functioning is permanently affected, as a result of the mild traumatic brain injury, and despite considerable effort those with mTBI will not outperform people who have not sustained a mild traumatic brain injury.	Past research has shown that individuals who have had a mild traumatic brain injury typically fully recover within a couple of months post-injury, and in turn return to normal cognitive functioning. Following this period of recovery individuals perform just as well as individuals who have not had a mild traumatic brain injury on tests of memory, and attention, and can even outperform such individuals. Research has also shown that memory and attention abilities are under personal control of the individual. Therefore it is suggested that cognitive functioning is not influenced as a result of the mild traumatic brain injury, and memory and attention abilities can improve with effort.
Conclusion	It is the aim of the present study to confirm the above findings. As such you will be required to complete the battery of tests again. Please give your best effort. You will be given a break in between tests.

^* The DT instructions for this study were based on those used by Ozen and Fernandes.²⁴ Underlined words were changed from Ozen and Fernandes²⁴ for this study. The DT and DT-reduced instructions used the same introductory and concluding statements, but the central part of these instructions varied according to condition.

DT, diagnosis threat.