Distinct Motivational Effects of Contingent and Noncontingent Rewards

The effects of pramipexole on motivational vigour during a saccade task: a placebo-controlled study in healthy adults

Motivation allows us to energise actions when we expect reward and is reduced in depression. This effect, termed motivational vigour, has been proposed to rely on central dopamine, with dopaminergic agents showing promise in the treatment of depression. This suggests that dopaminergic agents might act to reduce depression by increasing the effects of reward or by helping energise actions. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the dopamine agonist pramipexole enhanced motivational vigour during a rewarded saccade task. In addition, we asked whether the effects of pramipexole on vigour differ between reward contingent on performance and guaranteed reward. Healthy adult participants were randomised to receive either pramipexole (n = 19) or placebo (controls n = 18) for 18 days. The vigour of saccades was measured twice, once before the administration of study medication (Time 1) and after taking it for 12-15 days (Time 2). To separate motivation by contingency vs. reward, saccadic vigour was separately measured when (1) rewards were contingent on performance (2) delivered randomly with matched frequency, (3) when reward was guaranteed, (4) when reward was not present at all. Motivation increased response vigour, as expected. Relative to placebo, pramipexole also increased response vigour. However, there was no interaction, meaning that the effects of reward were not modulated by drug, and there was no differential drug effect on contingent vs. guaranteed rewards. The effect of pramipexole on vigour could not be explained by a speed/accuracy trade-off, nor by autonomic arousal as indexed by pupillary dilation. Chronic D2 stimulation increases general vigour, energising movements in healthy adults irrespective of extrinsic reward.

Dopamine Increases Accuracy and Lengthens Deliberation Time in Explicit Motor Skill Learning

Although animal research implicates a central role for dopamine in motor skill learning, a direct causal link has yet to be established in neurotypical humans. Here, we tested if a pharmacological manipulation of dopamine alters motor learning, using a paradigm which engaged explicit, goal-directed strategies. Participants (27 females; 11 males; aged 18-29 years) first consumed either 100 mg of levodopa (n = 19), a dopamine precursor that increases dopamine availability, or placebo (n = 19). Then, during training, participants learnt the explicit strategy of aiming away from presented targets by instructed angles of varying sizes. Targets jumped mid-movement by the instructed aiming angle. Task success was thus contingent upon aiming accuracy and not speed. The effect of the dopamine manipulations on skill learning was assessed during training and after an overnight follow-up. Increasing dopamine availability at training improved aiming accuracy and lengthened reaction times, particularly for larger, more difficult aiming angles, both at training and, importantly, at follow-up, despite prominent session-by-session performance improvements in both accuracy and speed. Exogenous dopamine thus seems to result in a learnt, persistent propensity to better adhere to task goals. Results support the proposal that dopamine is important in engagement of instrumental motivation to optimize adherence to task goals, particularly when learning to execute goal-directed strategies in motor skill learning.

Pupil Size Sensitivity to Listening Demand Depends on Motivational State

Motivation plays a role when a listener needs to understand speech under acoustically demanding conditions. Previous work has demonstrated pupil-linked arousal being sensitive to both listening demands and motivational state during listening. It is less clear how motivational state affects the temporal evolution of the pupil size and its relation to subsequent behavior. We used an auditory gap detection task (N = 33) to study the joint impact of listening demand and motivational state on the pupil size response and examine its temporal evolution. Task difficulty and a listener's motivational state were orthogonally manipulated through changes in gap duration and monetary reward prospect. We show that participants' performance decreased with task difficulty, but that reward prospect enhanced performance under hard listening conditions. Pupil size increased with both increased task difficulty and higher reward prospect, and this reward prospect effect was largest under difficult listening conditions. Moreover, pupil size time courses differed between detected and missed gaps, suggesting that the pupil response indicates upcoming behavior. Larger pre-gap pupil size was further associated with faster response times on a trial-by-trial within-participant level. Our results reiterate the utility of pupil size as an objective and temporally sensitive measure in audiology. However, such assessments of cognitive resource recruitment need to consider the individual's motivational state.

Contributions of transient and sustained reward to memory formation

Reward benefits to memory formation have been robustly linked to dopaminergic activity. Despite the established characterization of dopaminergic mechanisms as operating at multiple timescales, potentially supporting distinct functional outcomes, the temporal dynamics by which reward might modulate memory encoding are just beginning to be investigated. In the present study, we leveraged a mixed block/event experimental design to disentangle transient and sustained reward influences on task engagement and subsequent recognition memory in an adapted monetary-incentive-encoding (MIE) paradigm. Across three behavioral experiments, transient and sustained reward modulation of item and context memory was probed, at both 24-h and ~ 15-min retention intervals, to investigate the importance of overnight consolidation. In general, we observed that transient reward was associated with enhanced item memory encoding, while sustained reward modulated response speed but did not appear to benefit subsequent recognition accuracy. Notably, reward effects on item memory performance and response speed were somewhat inconsistent across the three experiments, with suggestions that RT speeding might also be related to time on task, and we did not observe reward modulation of context memory performance or amplification of reward benefits to memory by overnight consolidation. Taken together, the observed pattern of behavior is consistent with potentially distinct roles for transient and sustained reward in memory encoding and cognitive performance and suggests that further investigation of the temporal dynamics of dopaminergic contributions to memory formation will advance the understanding of motivated memory.

The value of time in the invigoration of human movements when interacting with a robotic exoskeleton

Time and effort are thought to be subjectively balanced during the planning of goal-directed actions, thereby setting the vigor of volitional movements. Theoretical models predicted that the value of time should then amount to high levels of effort. However, the time-effort trade-off has so far only been studied for a narrow range of efforts. To investigate the extent to which humans can invest in a time-saving effort, we used a robotic exoskeleton to substantially vary the energetic cost associated with a certain vigor during reaching movements. In this situation, minimizing the time-effort trade-off should lead to high and low human efforts for upward and downward movements, respectively. Consistently, all participants expended substantial amounts of energy upward and remained essentially inactive by harnessing the work of gravity downward, while saving time in both cases. A common time-effort trade-off may therefore determine the vigor of reaching movements for a wide range of efforts.

Exploring expected reward and efficacy in enhancing cognitive control in patients with depression

BACKGROUND

Depression is associated with impairments in cognitive control. Considering the lack of mechanistic models accounting for cognitive control deficits in depression, the expected value of control (EVC) theory offers a mechanistic view for allocating cognitive control emphasizing motivational components (efficacy, value). Efficacy refers to the possibility that an effort leads to a special outcome and reward refers to the value (amount) associated with the outcome. This study aimed to examine the role of the EVC in depression.

METHOD

This study used a within-between-subject design. Participants with depression (n = 36) and healthy controls (n = 31) completed a clinical diagnostic interview, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the General Health Questionnaire-12, and a computer-based incentivized Stroop Color-Word Paradigm in which levels of efficacy (high vs. low) and the amount of rewards (high vs. low) were presented as cues before target stimuli.

RESULTS

We found significant interaction effects of group × efficacy and efficacy × reward in terms of reaction time in the Stroop Paradigm. Follow-up analyses indicated the Depressed group were significantly slower than Controls on high efficacy trials, but the two groups did not differ significantly on low efficacy trials. Additionally, on high efficacy trials, reward did not influence performance, but on low efficacy trials, high reward improved performance in both groups.

LIMITATION

Lack of neurological measures and eye tracking techniques.

CONCLUSION

Overall, our findings suggest that reward and efficacy may jointly improve cognitive control allocation and highlight the need for further research examining EVC theory as a mechanistic account of cognitive control deficits in depression.

Motor Decision-Making as a Common Denominator in Motor Pathology and a Possible Rehabilitation Target

Despite the substantial progress in motor rehabilitation, patient involvement and motivation remain major challenges. They are typically addressed with communicational and environmental strategies, as well as with improved goal-setting procedures. Here we suggest a new research direction and framework involving Neuroeconomics principles to investigate the role of Motor Decision-Making (MDM) parameters in motivational component and motor performance in rehabilitation. We argue that investigating NE principles could bring new approaches aimed at increasing active patient engagement in the rehabilitation process by introducing more movement choice, and adapting existing goal-setting procedures. We discuss possible MDM implementation strategies and illustrate possible research directions using examples of stroke and psychiatric disorders.

Evidence for a common mechanism supporting invigoration of action selection and action execution

The speed, or vigor, of our movements can vary depending on circumstances. For instance, the promise of a reward leads to faster movements. Reward also leads us to move with a lower reaction time, suggesting that the process of action selection can also be invigorated by reward. It has been proposed that invigoration of action selection and of action execution might occur through a common mechanism, and thus these aspects of behavior might be coupled. To test this hypothesis, we asked participants to make reaching movements to "shoot" through a target at varying speeds to assess whether moving more quickly was also associated with more rapid action selection. We found that, when participants were required to move with a lower velocity, the speed of their action selection was also significantly slowed. This finding was recapitulated in a further dataset in which participants determined their own movement speed, but had to move slowly to stop their movement inside the target. By reanalyzing a previous dataset, we also found evidence for the converse relationship between action execution and action selection; when pressured to select actions more rapidly, people also executed movements with higher velocity. Our results establish that invigoration of action selection and action execution vary in tandem with one another, supporting the hypothesis of a common underlying mechanism.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We show that voluntary increases in the vigor of action execution lead action selection to also occur more rapidly. Conversely, hastening action selection by imposing a deadline to act also leads to increases in movement speed. These findings provide evidence that these two distinct aspects of behavior are modulated by a common underlying mechanism.

Learning when effort matters: neural dynamics underlying updating and adaptation to changes in performance efficacy

To determine how much cognitive control to invest in a task, people need to consider whether exerting control matters for obtaining rewards. In particular, they need to account for the efficacy of their performance-the degree to which rewards are determined by performance or by independent factors. Yet it remains unclear how people learn about their performance efficacy in an environment. Here we combined computational modeling with measures of task performance and EEG, to provide a mechanistic account of how people (i) learn and update efficacy expectations in a changing environment and (ii) proactively adjust control allocation based on current efficacy expectations. Across 2 studies, subjects performed an incentivized cognitive control task while their performance efficacy (the likelihood that rewards are performance-contingent or random) varied over time. We show that people update their efficacy beliefs based on prediction errors-leveraging similar neural and computational substrates as those that underpin reward learning-and adjust how much control they allocate according to these beliefs. Using computational modeling, we show that these control adjustments reflect changes in information processing, rather than the speed-accuracy tradeoff. These findings demonstrate the neurocomputational mechanism through which people learn how worthwhile their cognitive control is.

Sensorimotor feedback loops are selectively sensitive to reward

Although it is well established that motivational factors such as earning more money for performing well improve motor performance, how the motor system implements this improvement remains unclear. For instance, feedback-based control, which uses sensory feedback from the body to correct for errors in movement, improves with greater reward. But feedback control encompasses many feedback loops with diverse characteristics such as the brain regions involved and their response time. Which specific loops drive these performance improvements with reward is unknown, even though their diversity makes it unlikely that they are contributing uniformly. We systematically tested the effect of reward on the latency (how long for a corrective response to arise?) and gain (how large is the corrective response?) of seven distinct sensorimotor feedback loops in humans. Only the fastest feedback loops were insensitive to reward, and the earliest reward-driven changes were consistently an increase in feedback gains, not a reduction in latency. Rather, a reduction of response latencies only tended to occur in slower feedback loops. These observations were similar across sensory modalities (vision and proprioception). Our results may have implications regarding feedback control performance in athletic coaching. For instance, coaching methodologies that rely on reinforcement or 'reward shaping' may need to specifically target aspects of movement that rely on reward-sensitive feedback responses.

Value-driven modulation of visual perception by visual and auditory reward cues: The role of performance-contingent delivery of reward

Perception is modulated by reward value, an effect elicited not only by stimuli that are predictive of performance-contingent delivery of reward (PC) but also by stimuli that were previously rewarded (PR). PC and PR cues may engage different mechanisms relying on goal-driven versus stimulus-driven prioritization of high value stimuli, respectively. However, these two modes of reward modulation have not been systematically compared against each other. This study employed a behavioral paradigm where participants' visual orientation discrimination was tested in the presence of task-irrelevant visual or auditory reward cues. In the first phase (PC), correct performance led to a high or low monetary reward dependent on the identity of visual or auditory cues. In the subsequent phase (PR), visual or auditory cues were not followed by reward delivery anymore. We hypothesized that PC cues have a stronger modulatory effect on visual discrimination and pupil responses compared to PR cues. We found an overall larger task-evoked pupil dilation in PC compared to PR phase. Whereas PC and PR cues both increased the accuracy of visual discrimination, value-driven acceleration of reaction times (RTs) and pupillary responses only occurred for PC cues. The modulation of pupil size by high reward PC cues was strongly correlated with the modulation of a combined measure of speed and accuracy. These results indicate that although value-driven modulation of perception can occur even when reward delivery is halted, stronger goal-driven control elicited by PC reward cues additionally results in a more efficient balance between accuracy and speed of perceptual choices.

Mental control of uncertainty

Can you reduce uncertainty by thinking? Intuition suggests that this happens through the elusive process of attention: if we expend mental effort, we can increase the reliability of our sensory data. Models based on "rational inattention" formalize this idea in terms of a trade-off between the costs and benefits of attention. This paper surveys the origin of these models in economics, their connection to rate-distortion theory, and some of their recent applications to psychology and neuroscience. We also report new data from a numerosity judgment task in which we manipulate performance incentives. Consistent with rational inattention, people are able to improve performance on this task when incentivized, in part by increasing the reliability of their sensory data.

The dissociable effects of reward on sequential motor behavior

Reward has consistently been shown to enhance motor behavior; however, its beneficial effects appear to be largely unspecific. For example, reward is associated with both rapid and training-dependent improvements in performance, with a mechanistic account of these effects currently lacking. Here we tested the hypothesis that these distinct reward-based improvements are driven by dissociable reward types: monetary incentive and performance feedback. Whereas performance feedback provides information on how well a motor task has been completed (knowledge of performance), monetary incentive increases the motivation to perform optimally without providing a performance-based learning signal. Experiment 1 showed that groups who received monetary incentive rapidly improved movement times (MTs), using a novel sequential reaching task. In contrast, only groups with correct performance-based feedback showed learning-related improvements. Importantly, pairing both maximized MT performance gains and accelerated movement fusion. Fusion describes an optimization process during which neighboring sequential movements blend together to form singular actions. Results from experiment 2 served as a replication and showed that fusion led to enhanced performance speed while also improving movement efficiency through increased smoothness. Finally, experiment 3 showed that these improvements in performance persist for 24 h even without reward availability. This highlights the dissociable impact of monetary incentive and performance feedback, with their combination maximizing performance gains and leading to stable improvements in the speed and efficiency of sequential actions.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our work provides a mechanistic framework for how reward influences motor behavior. Specifically, we show that rapid improvements in speed and accuracy are driven by reward presented in the form of money, whereas knowledge of performance through performance feedback leads to training-based improvements. Importantly, combining both maximized performance gains and led to improvements in movement quality through fusion, which describes an optimization process during which sequential movements blend into a single action.

On the Influence of Spatial and Value Attentional Cues Across Individuals

The visual world provides a myriad of cues that can be used to direct information processing. How does the brain integrate predictive information from disparate sources to modify visual priorities, and are combination strategies consistent across individuals? Previous evidence shows that cues predictive of the value of a visually guided task (incentive value) and cues that signal where targets may occur (spatial certainty) act independently to bias attention. Anticipatory accounts propose that both cues are encoded into an attentional priority map, whereas the counterfactual account argues that incentive value cues instead induce a reactive encoding of losses based on the direction of attention. We adjudicate between these alternatives and further determine whether there are individual differences in how attentional cues are encoded. 149 participants viewed two coloured placeholders that specified the potential value of correctly identifying an imminent target. Prior to the target’s presentation, an endogenous spatial cue indicated the target’s likely location. The anticipatory and counterfactual accounts were used to motivate parametric regressors that were compared in their explanatory power of the data, at the group level and on data stratified by a clustering algorithm. Clustering revealed 2 subtypes; whereas all individuals use spatial certainty cues a subset does not use incentive value cues. When incentive value cues are used their influence reflects a counterfactual loss function. The data support the counterfactual account and show that theories of motivated attention must account for the non-uniform influence of incentive value on visual priorities.

An energizing role for motivation in information-seeking during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of understanding and managing information seeking behavior. Information-seeking in humans is often viewed as irrational rather than utility maximizing. Here, we hypothesized that this apparent disconnect between utility and information-seeking is due to a latent third variable, motivation. We quantified information-seeking, learning, and COVID-19-related concern (which we used as a proxy for motivation regarding COVID-19 and the changes in circumstance it caused) in a US-based sample (n = 5376) during spring 2020. We found that self-reported levels of COVID-19 concern were associated with directed seeking of COVID-19-related content and better memory for such information. Interestingly, this specific motivational state was also associated with a general enhancement of information-seeking for content unrelated to COVID-19. These effects were associated with commensurate changes to utility expectations and were dissociable from the influence of non-specific anxiety. Thus, motivation both directs and energizes epistemic behavior, linking together utility and curiosity.

Information-seeking behavior in humans is often viewed as irrational rather than utility maximizing. Here the authors describe data obtained in Spring 2020 showing that participants’ concern about COVID-19 was related not only to their drive to seek information about the virus, but also to their curiosity about other more general topics.

Cognitive Control as a Multivariate Optimization Problem

A hallmark of adaptation in humans and other animals is our ability to control how we think and behave across different settings. Research has characterized the various forms cognitive control can take-including enhancement of goal-relevant information, suppression of goal-irrelevant information, and overall inhibition of potential responses-and has identified computations and neural circuits that underpin this multitude of control types. Studies have also identified a wide range of situations that elicit adjustments in control allocation (e.g., those eliciting signals indicating an error or increased processing conflict), but the rules governing when a given situation will give rise to a given control adjustment remain poorly understood. Significant progress has recently been made on this front by casting the allocation of control as a decision-making problem. This approach has developed unifying and normative models that prescribe when and how a change in incentives and task demands will result in changes in a given form of control. Despite their successes, these models, and the experiments that have been developed to test them, have yet to face their greatest challenge: deciding how to select among the multiplicity of configurations that control can take at any given time. Here, we will lay out the complexities of the inverse problem inherent to cognitive control allocation, and their close parallels to inverse problems within motor control (e.g., choosing between redundant limb movements). We discuss existing solutions to motor control's inverse problems drawn from optimal control theory, which have proposed that effort costs act to regularize actions and transform motor planning into a well-posed problem. These same principles may help shed light on how our brains optimize over complex control configuration, while providing a new normative perspective on the origins of mental effort.

Reward-Dependent Selection of Feedback Gains Impacts Rapid Motor Decisions

Target reward influences motor planning strategies through modulation of movement vigor. Considering current theories of sensorimotor control suggesting that movement planning consists in selecting a goal-directed control strategy, we sought to investigate the influence of reward on feedback control. Here, we explored this question in three human reaching experiments. First, we altered the explicit reward associated with the goal target and found an overall increase in feedback gains for higher target rewards, highlighted by larger velocities, feedback responses to external loads, and background muscle activity. Then, we investigated whether the differences in target rewards across multiple goals impacted rapid motor decisions during movement. We observed idiosyncratic switching strategies dependent on both target rewards and, surprisingly, the feedback gains at perturbation onset: the more vigorous movements were less likely to switch to a new goal following perturbations. To gain further insight into a causal influence of the feedback gains on rapid motor decisions, we demonstrated that biasing the baseline activity and reflex gains by means of a background load evoked a larger proportion of target switches in the direction opposite to the background load associated with lower muscle activity. Together, our results demonstrate an impact of target reward on feedback control and highlight the competition between movement vigor and flexibility.

The effect of subliminal incentives on goal-directed eye movements

Over the last decades, several studies have demonstrated that conscious and unconscious reward incentives both affect performance in physical and cognitive tasks, suggesting that goal-pursuit can arise from an unconscious will. Whether the planning of goal-directed saccadic eye movements during an effortful task can also be affected by subliminal reward cues has not been systematically investigated. We employed a novel task where participants made several eye movements back and forth between a fixation point and a number of peripheral targets. The total number of targets visited by the eyes in a fixed amount of time determined participants' monetary gain. The magnitude of the reward at stake was briefly shown at the beginning of each trial and masked by pattern images superimposed in time so that at shorter display durations participants perceived reward incentives subliminally. We found a main effect of reward across all display durations as higher reward enhanced participants' oculomotor effort measured as the frequency and peak velocity of saccades. This effect was strongest for consciously perceived rewards but also occurred when rewards were subliminally perceived. Although we did not find a statistically significant dissociation between the reward-related modulation of different saccadic parameters, across two experiments the most robust effect of subliminal rewards was observed for the modulation of the saccadic frequency but not the peak velocity. These results suggest that multiple indices of oculomotor effort can be incentivized by subliminal rewards and that saccadic frequency may provide the most sensitive indicator of subliminal incentivization of eye movements.

Mindfulness and Behavior Change

Initiating and maintaining behavior change is key to the prevention and treatment of most preventable chronic medical and psychiatric illnesses. The cultivation of mindfulness, involving acceptance and nonjudgment of present-moment experience, often results in transformative health behavior change. Neural systems involved in motivation and learning have an important role to play. A theoretical model of mindfulness that integrates these mechanisms with the cognitive, emotional, and self-related processes commonly described, while applying an integrated model to health behavior change, is needed. This integrative review (1) defines mindfulness and describes the mindfulness-based intervention movement, (2) synthesizes the neuroscience of mindfulness and integrates motivation and learning mechanisms within a mindful self-regulation model for understanding the complex effects of mindfulness on behavior change, and (3) synthesizes current clinical research evaluating the effects of mindfulness-based interventions targeting health behaviors relevant to psychiatric care. The review provides insight into the limitations of current research and proposes potential mechanisms to be tested in future research and targeted in clinical practice to enhance the impact of mindfulness on behavior change.

Vision as oculomotor reward: cognitive contributions to the dynamic control of saccadic eye movements

Humans and other primates are equipped with a foveated visual system. As a consequence, we reorient our fovea to objects and targets in the visual field that are conspicuous or that we consider relevant or worth looking at. These reorientations are achieved by means of saccadic eye movements. Where we saccade to depends on various low-level factors such as a targets' luminance but also crucially on high-level factors like the expected reward or a targets' relevance for perception and subsequent behavior. Here, we review recent findings how the control of saccadic eye movements is influenced by higher-level cognitive processes. We first describe the pathways by which cognitive contributions can influence the neural oculomotor circuit. Second, we summarize what saccade parameters reveal about cognitive mechanisms, particularly saccade latencies, saccade kinematics and changes in saccade gain. Finally, we review findings on what renders a saccade target valuable, as reflected in oculomotor behavior. We emphasize that foveal vision of the target after the saccade can constitute an internal reward for the visual system and that this is reflected in oculomotor dynamics that serve to quickly and accurately provide detailed foveal vision of relevant targets in the visual field.

Decomposing the motivation to exert mental effort

Achieving most goals demands cognitive control, yet people vary widely in their success at meeting these demands. While motivation is known to be fundamental to determining these successes, what determines one's motivation to perform a given task remains poorly understood. Here, we describe recent efforts towards addressing this question using the Expected Value of Control model, which simulates the process by which people weigh the costs and benefits of exerting mental effort. By functionally decomposing this cost-benefit analysis, this model has been used to fill gaps in our understanding of the mechanisms of mental effort and to generate novel predictions about the sources of variability in real-world performance. We discuss the opportunities the model provides for formalizing hypotheses about why people vary in their motivation to perform tasks, as well as for understanding limitations in our ability to test these hypotheses based on a given measure of performance.

A mosaic of cost-benefit control over cortico-striatal circuitry

Dopamine contributes to cognitive control through well-established effects in both the striatum and cortex. Although earlier work suggests that dopamine affects cognitive control capacity, more recent work suggests that striatal dopamine may also impact on cognitive motivation. We consider the emerging perspective that striatal dopamine boosts control by making people more sensitive to the benefits versus the costs of cognitive effort, and we discuss how this sensitivity shapes competition between controlled and prepotent actions. We propose that dopamine signaling in distinct cortico-striatal subregions mediates different types of cost-benefit tradeoffs, and also discuss mechanisms for the local control of dopamine release, enabling selectivity among cortico-striatal circuits. In so doing, we show how this cost-benefit mosaic can reconcile seemingly conflicting findings about the impact of dopamine signaling on cognitive control.

Revisiting positive affect and reward influences on cognitive control

Modulation of cognitive control by emotion and motivation has become a major topic in cognition research; however, characterizing the extent to which these influences may dissociate has proved challenging. Here, I examine recent advances in this literature, focusing on: (1) neuromodulator mechanisms underlying positive affect and reward motivation effects on cognitive control; (2) contingency and associative learning in interactions between affect/reward and cognitive control; (3) aspects of task design, unrelated to affect/reward, that may have acted as confounding influences on cognitive control in prior work. I suggest that positive affect and reward should not be considered singular in their effects on cognitive control, but instead varying on multiple parameters and interacting with task demands, to determine goal-directed, adaptive behavior.

Examining the effect of perceived performance-contingent gains, losses and errors on arithmetic

Gains and losses have previously been found to differentially modulate Executive Functions and cognitive performance depending on performance contingency. Following recent findings suggesting that random gains and losses modulate arithmetic performance, the current study aimed to investigate the effect of perceived performance-contingent gains and losses on arithmetic performance. In the current study, an arithmetic equation judgment task was administered, with perceived performance-contingent gain, loss, and error feedback presented upon each trial. The results from two experiments suggest that when perceiving gain and loss as performance-contingent, the modulation of arithmetic performance, seen previously under random contingency conditions was entirely eliminated. In addition, another type of feedback was examined in the context of an arithmetic task: post-error adjustments. When performance after error feedback was compared to performance after other aversive performance feedback such as loss signals, only errors, but not other aversive feedback, modulated performance in the subsequent trial. These findings further extend the knowledge regarding the influence of gain and loss situations, as well as errors, on arithmetic performance.

Expectations of reward and efficacy guide cognitive control allocation

The amount of mental effort we invest in a task is influenced by the reward we can expect if we perform that task well. However, some of the rewards that have the greatest potential for driving these efforts are partly determined by factors beyond one's control. In such cases, effort has more limited efficacy for obtaining rewards. According to the Expected Value of Control theory, people integrate information about the expected reward and efficacy of task performance to determine the expected value of control, and then adjust their control allocation (i.e., mental effort) accordingly. Here we test this theory's key behavioral and neural predictions. We show that participants invest more cognitive control when this control is more rewarding and more efficacious, and that these incentive components separately modulate EEG signatures of incentive evaluation and proactive control allocation. Our findings support the prediction that people combine expectations of reward and efficacy to determine how much effort to invest.

Task-related activity in human visual cortex

The brain exhibits widespread endogenous responses in the absence of visual stimuli, even at the earliest stages of visual cortical processing. Such responses have been studied in monkeys using optical imaging with a limited field of view over visual cortex. Here, we used functional MRI (fMRI) in human participants to study the link between arousal and endogenous responses in visual cortex. The response that we observed was tightly entrained to task timing, was spatially extensive, and was independent of visual stimulation. We found that this response follows dynamics similar to that of pupil size and heart rate, suggesting that task-related activity is related to arousal. Finally, we found that higher reward increased response amplitude while decreasing its trial-to-trial variability (i.e., the noise). Computational simulations suggest that increased temporal precision underlies both of these observations. Our findings are consistent with optical imaging studies in monkeys and support the notion that arousal increases precision of neural activity.

The brain exhibits widespread endogenous responses in the absence of visual stimuli, even at the earliest stages of visual cortical processing. This fMRI study characterizes a widespread hemodynamic response in early visual cortex that is not related to visual input but instead reflects a participant’s engagement in a task, is modulated by expected monetary reward, and may reflect neural quenching.

Eye movements reflect adaptive predictions and predictive precision

Successful decision-making depends on the ability to form predictions about uncertain future events. Existing evidence suggests predictive representations are not limited to point estimates but also include information about the associated level of predictive uncertainty. Estimates of predictive uncertainty have an important role in governing the rate at which beliefs are updated in response to new observations. It is not yet known, however, whether the same form of uncertainty-modulated learning occurs naturally and spontaneously when there is no task requirement to express predictions explicitly. Here, we used a gaze-based predictive inference paradigm to show that (a) predictive inference manifested in spontaneous gaze dynamics, (b) feedback-driven updating of spontaneous gaze-based predictions reflected adaptation to environmental statistics, and (c) anticipatory gaze variability tracked predictive uncertainty in an event-by-event manner. Our results demonstrate that sophisticated predictive inference can occur spontaneously and that oculomotor behavior can provide a multidimensional readout of internal predictive beliefs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Dopamine promotes instrumental motivation, but reduces reward-related vigour

We can be motivated when reward depends on performance, or merely by the prospect of a guaranteed reward. Performance-dependent (contingent) reward is instrumental, relying on an internal action-outcome model, whereas motivation by guaranteed reward may minimise opportunity cost in reward-rich environments. Competing theories propose that each type of motivation should be dependent on dopaminergic activity. We contrasted these two types of motivation with a rewarded saccade task, in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). When PD patients were ON dopamine, they had greater response vigour (peak saccadic velocity residuals) for contingent rewards, whereas when PD patients were OFF medication, they had greater vigour for guaranteed rewards. These results support the view that reward expectation and contingency drive distinct motivational processes, and can be dissociated by manipulating dopaminergic activity. We posit that dopamine promotes goal-directed motivation, but dampens reward-driven vigour, contradictory to the prediction that increased tonic dopamine amplifies reward expectation.

Rewards interact with explicit knowledge to enhance skilled motor performance

Offering people rewards and incentives typically improves their performance on skilled motor tasks. However, the mechanisms by which motivation impacts motor skills remains unclear. In two experiments, we show that motivation impacts motor sequencing skills in two separate ways. First, the prospect of reward speeds up the execution of all actions. Second, rewards provide an additional boost to motor planning when explicit skill knowledge can be used to prepare movements in advance.

Reward-Based Improvements in Motor Control Are Driven by Multiple Error-Reducing Mechanisms

Reward has a remarkable ability to invigorate motor behavior, enabling individuals to select and execute actions with greater precision and speed. However, if reward is to be exploited in applied settings, such as rehabilitation, a thorough understanding of its underlying mechanisms is required. In a series of experiments, we first demonstrate that reward simultaneously improves the selection and execution components of a reaching movement. Specifically, reward promoted the selection of the correct action in the presence of distractors, while also improving execution through increased speed and maintenance of accuracy. These results led to a shift in the speed-accuracy functions for both selection and execution. In addition, punishment had a similar impact on action selection and execution, although it enhanced execution performance across all trials within a block, that is, its impact was noncontingent to trial value. Although the reward-driven enhancement of movement execution has been proposed to occur through enhanced feedback control, an untested possibility is that it is also driven by increased arm stiffness, an energy-consuming process that enhances limb stability. Computational analysis revealed that reward led to both an increase in feedback correction in the middle of the movement and a reduction in motor noise near the target. In line with our hypothesis, we provide novel evidence that this noise reduction is driven by a reward-dependent increase in arm stiffness. Therefore, reward drives multiple error-reduction mechanisms which enable individuals to invigorate motor performance without compromising accuracy.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT While reward is well-known for enhancing motor performance, how the nervous system generates these improvements is unclear. Despite recent work indicating that reward leads to enhanced feedback control, an untested possibility is that it also increases arm stiffness. We demonstrate that reward simultaneously improves the selection and execution components of a reaching movement. Furthermore, we show that punishment has a similar positive impact on performance. Importantly, by combining computational and biomechanical approaches, we show that reward leads to both improved feedback correction and an increase in stiffness. Therefore, reward drives multiple error-reduction mechanisms which enable individuals to invigorate performance without compromising accuracy. This work suggests that stiffness control plays a vital, and underappreciated, role in the reward-based imporvemenets in motor control.

The Differential Impact of a Response's Effectiveness and its Monetary Value on Response-Selection

While known reinforcers of behavior are outcomes that are valuable to the organism, recent research has demonstrated that the mere occurrence of an own-response effect can also reinforce responding. In this paper we begin investigating whether these two types of reinforcement occur via the same mechanism. To this end, we modified two different tasks, previously established to capture the influence of a response's effectiveness on the speed of motor-responses (indexed here by participants' reaction times). Specifically, in six experiments we manipulated both a response's 'pure' effectiveness and its outcome value (e.g., substantial versus negligible monetary reward) and measured the influence of both on the speed of responding. The findings strongly suggest that post action selection, responding is influenced only by pure effectiveness, as assessed by the motor system; thus, at these stages responding is not sensitive to abstract representations of the value of a response (e.g., monetary value). We discuss the benefit of distinguishing between these two necessary aspects of adaptive behavior namely, fine-tuning of motor-control and striving for desired outcomes. Finally, we embed the findings in the recently proposed Control-based response selection (CBRS) framework and elaborate on its potential for understanding motor-learning processes in developing infants.

Striatal reactivity to reward under threat-of-shock and working memory load in adults at increased familial risk for major depression: A preliminary study

INTRODUCTION

Anhedonia, a core symptom of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), manifests as a lack or loss of motivation as reflected by decreased reward responsiveness, at both behavioral and neural (i.e., striatum) levels. Exposure to stressful life events is another important risk factor for MDD. However, the mechanisms linking reward-deficit and stress to MDD remain poorly understood. Here, we explore whether the effects of stress exposure on reward processing might differentiate between Healthy Vulnerable adults (HVul, i.e., positive familial MDD) from Healthy Controls (HCon). Furthermore, the well-described reduction in cognitive resources in MDD might facilitate the stress-induced decrease in reward responsiveness in HVul individuals. Accordingly, this study includes a manipulation of cognitive resources to address the latter possibility.

METHODS

16 HVul (12 females) and 16 gender- and age-matched HCon completed an fMRI study, during which they performed a working memory reward task. Three factors were manipulated: reward (reward, no-reward), cognitive resources (working memory at low and high load), and stress level (no-shock, unpredictable threat-of-shock). Only the reward anticipation phase was analyzed. Imaging analyses focused on striatal function.

RESULTS

Compared to HCon, HVul showed lower activation in the caudate nucleus across all conditions. The HVul group also exhibited lower stress-related activation in the nucleus accumbens, but only in the low working memory (WM) load condition. Moreover, while stress potentiated putamen reactivity to reward cues in HVul when the task was more demanding (high WM load), stress blunted putamen reactivity in both groups when no reward was at stake.

CONCLUSION

Findings suggest that HVul might be at increased risk of developing anhedonic symptoms due to weaker encoding of reward value, higher difficulty to engage in goal-oriented behaviors and increased sensitivity to negative feedback, particularly in stressful contexts. These findings open new avenues for a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying how the complex interaction between the systems of stress and reward responsiveness contribute to the vulnerability to MDD, and how cognitive resources might modulate this interaction.

Voluntary modulation of saccadic peak velocity associated with individual differences in motivation

Saccadic peak velocity increases in a stereotyped manner with the amplitude of eye movements. This relationship, known as the main sequence, has classically been considered to be fixed, although several recent studies have demonstrated that velocity can be modulated to some extent by external incentives. However, the ability to voluntarily control saccadic velocity and its association with motivation has yet to be investigated. Here, in three separate experimental paradigms, we measured the effects of incentivisation on saccadic velocity, reaction time and preparatory pupillary changes in 53 young healthy participants. In addition, the ability to voluntarily modulate saccadic velocity with and without incentivisation was assessed. Participants varied in their ability to increase and decrease the velocity of their saccades when instructed to do so. This effect correlated with motivation level across participants, and was further modulated by addition of monetary reward and avoidance of loss. The findings show that a degree of voluntary control of saccadic velocity is possible in some individuals, and that the ability to modulate peak velocity is associated with intrinsic levels of motivation.

Inefficient Eye Movements: Gamification Improves Task Execution, But Not Fixation Strategy

Decisions about where to fixate are highly variable and often inefficient. In the current study, we investigated whether such decisions would improve with increased motivation. Participants had to detect a discrimination target, which would appear in one of two boxes, but only after they chose a location to fixate. The distance between boxes determines which location to fixate to maximise the probability of being able to see the target: participants should fixate between the two boxes when they are close together, and on one of the two boxes when they are far apart. We "gamified" this task, giving participants easy-to-track rewards that were contingent on discrimination accuracy. Their decisions and performance were compared to previous results that were gathered in the absence of this additional motivation. We used a Bayesian beta regression model to estimate the size of the effect and associated variance. The results demonstrate that discrimination accuracy does indeed improve in the presence of performance-related rewards. However, there was no difference in eye movement strategy between the two groups, suggesting this improvement in accuracy was not due to the participants making more optimal eye movement decisions. Instead, the motivation encouraged participants to expend more effort on other aspects of the task, such as paying more attention to the boxes and making fewer response errors.

Eye pupil signals information gain

In conditions of constant illumination, the eye pupil diameter indexes the modulation of arousal state and responds to a large breadth of cognitive processes, including mental effort, attention, surprise, decision processes, decision biases, value beliefs, uncertainty, volatility, exploitation/exploration trade-off, or learning rate. Here, I propose an information theoretic framework that has the potential to explain the ensemble of these findings as reflecting pupillary response to information processing. In short, updates of the brain’s internal model, quantified formally as the Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence between prior and posterior beliefs, would be the common denominator to all these instances of pupillary dilation to cognition. I show that stimulus presentation leads to pupillary response that is proportional to the amount of information the stimulus carries about itself and to the quantity of information it provides about other task variables. In the context of decision making, pupil dilation in relation to uncertainty is explained by the wandering of the evidence accumulation process, leading to large summed KL divergences. Finally, pupillary response to mental effort and variations in tonic pupil size are also formalized in terms of information theory. On the basis of this framework, I compare pupillary data from past studies to simple information-theoretic simulations of task designs and show good correspondance with data across studies. The present framework has the potential to unify the large set of results reported on pupillary dilation to cognition and to provide a theory to guide future research.

"A" for Effort: Rewarding Effortful Retrieval Attempts Improves Learning From General Knowledge Errors in Women

Previous research has shown that the prospect of attaining a reward can promote task-engagement, up-regulate attention toward reward-relevant information, and facilitate enhanced encoding of new information into declarative memory. However, past research on reward-based enhancement of declarative memory has focused primarily on paradigms in which rewards are contingent upon accurate responses. Yet, findings from test-enhanced learning show that making errors can also be useful for learning if those errors represent effortful retrieval attempts and are followed by corrective feedback. Here, we used a challenging general knowledge task to examine the effects of explicitly rewarding retrieval effort, defined as a semantically plausible answer to a question (referenced to a semantic knowledge database www.mangelslab.org/bknorms), regardless of response accuracy. In particular, we asked whether intermittent rewards following effortful incorrect responses facilitated learning from corrective feedback as measured by incidental learning outcomes on a 24-48 h delayed retest. Given that effort-contingent extrinsic rewards represent the intersection between an internal locus of control and competency, we compared participants in this "Effort" group to three other groups in a between-subjects design: a Luck group that framed rewards as related to participant-chosen lottery numbers (reward with internal control, not competence-based), a random Award group that framed rewards as computer generated (no control, not competence-based), and a Control group with no reward, but matched on all other task features. Both men and women in the Effort group showed increased self-reports of concentration and positive feelings following the receipt of rewards, as well as subjective effort on the retest, compared to the Control group. However, only women additionally exhibited performance benefits of effort framing on error correction. These benefits were found for both rewarded and non-rewarded trials, but only for correction of low confidence errors, suggesting that effort-contingent rewards produced task-level changes in motivation to learn less familiar information in women, rather than trial-level influences in encoding or consolidation. The Luck and Award groups did not demonstrate significant motivational or behavioral benefits for either gender. These results suggest that both reward context and gender are important factors contributing to the effectiveness of rewards as tools to enhance learning from errors.

Reinforcement effects in anticipatory smooth eye movements

When predictive information about target motion is available, anticipatory smooth pursuit eye movements (aSPEM) are consistently generated before target appearance, thereby reducing the typical sensorimotor delay between target motion onset and foveation. By manipulating the probability for target motion direction, we were able to bias the direction and mean velocity of aSPEM. This suggests that motion-direction expectancy has a strong effect on the initiation of anticipatory movements. To further understand the nature of anticipatory smooth eye movements, we investigated different effects of reinforcement on aSPEM. In a first experiment, the reinforcement was contingent to a particular anticipatory behavior. A monetary reward was associated to a criterion-matching anticipatory velocity as estimated online during the gap before target motion onset. Our results showed a small but significant effect of behavior-contingent monetary reward on aSPEM. In a second experiment, the proportion of rewarded trials was manipulated across motion directions (right vs. left) independently from participants' behavior. Our results indicate that a bias in expected reward does not systematically affect anticipatory eye movements. Overall, these findings strengthen the notion that anticipatory eye movements can be considered as an operant behavior (similar to visually guided ones), whereas the expectancy for a noncontingent reward cannot efficiently bias them.

The influence of task outcome on implicit motor learning

Recent studies have demonstrated that task success signals can modulate learning during sensorimotor adaptation tasks, primarily through engaging explicit processes. Here, we examine the influence of task outcome on implicit adaptation, using a reaching task in which adaptation is induced by feedback that is not contingent on actual performance. We imposed an invariant perturbation (rotation) on the feedback cursor while varying the target size. In this way, the cursor either hit or missed the target, with the former producing a marked attenuation of implicit motor learning. We explored different computational architectures that might account for how task outcome information interacts with implicit adaptation. The results fail to support an architecture in which adaptation operates in parallel with a model-free operant reinforcement process. Rather, task outcome may serve as a gain on implicit adaptation or provide a distinct error signal for a second, independent implicit learning process.

Editorial note

This article has been through an editorial process in which the authors decide how to respond to the issues raised during peer review. The Reviewing Editor's assessment is that all the issues have been addressed (see decision letter).

How pupil responses track value-based decision-making during and after reinforcement learning

Cognition can reveal itself in the pupil, as latent cognitive processes map onto specific pupil responses. For instance, the pupil dilates when we make decisions and these pupil size fluctuations reflect decision-making computations during and after a choice. Surprisingly little is known, however, about how pupil responses relate to decisions driven by the learned value of stimuli. This understanding is important, as most real-life decisions are guided by the outcomes of earlier choices. The goal of this study was to investigate which cognitive processes the pupil reflects during value-based decision-making. We used a reinforcement learning task to study pupil responses during value-based decisions and subsequent decision evaluations, employing computational modeling to quantitatively describe the underlying cognitive processes. We found that the pupil closely tracks reinforcement learning processes independently across participants and across trials. Prior to choice, the pupil dilated as a function of trial-by-trial fluctuations in value beliefs about the to-be chosen option and predicted an individual's tendency to exploit high value options. After feedback a biphasic pupil response was observed, the amplitude of which correlated with participants' learning rates. Furthermore, across trials, early feedback-related dilation scaled with value uncertainty, whereas later constriction scaled with signed reward prediction errors. These findings show that pupil size fluctuations can provide detailed information about the computations underlying value-based decisions and the subsequent updating of value beliefs. As these processes are affected in a host of psychiatric disorders, our results indicate that pupillometry can be used as an accessible tool to non-invasively study the processes underlying ongoing reinforcement learning in the clinic.

Motivation dynamically increases noise resistance by internal feedback during movement

Motivation improves performance, pushing us beyond our normal limits. One general explanation for this is that the effects of neural noise can be reduced, at a cost. If this were possible, reward would promote investment in resisting noise. But how could the effects of noise be attenuated, and why should this be costly? Negative feedback may be employed to compensate for disturbances in a neural representation. Such feedback would increase the robustness of neural representations to internal signal fluctuations, producing a stable attractor. We propose that encoding this negative feedback in neural signals would incur additional costs proportional to the strength of the feedback signal. We use eye movements to test the hypothesis that motivation by reward improves precision by increasing the strength of internal negative feedback. We find that reward simultaneously increases the amplitude, velocity and endpoint precision of saccades, indicating true improvement in oculomotor performance. Analysis of trajectories demonstrates that variation in the eye position during the course of saccades is predictive of the variation of endpoints, but this relation is reduced by reward. This indicates that motivation permits more aggressive correction of errors during the saccade, so that they no longer affect the endpoint. We suggest that such increases in internal negative feedback allow attractor stability, albeit at a cost, and therefore may explain how motivation improves cognitive as well as motor precision.

•

Motivation can increase speed and reduce behavioural variability.

•

This requires stabilising neural representations so they are robust to noise.

•

Stable representations or attractors in neural systems may come at the cost of stronger negative feedback.

•

Examination of trajectory correlations demonstrates that reward increases negative feedback.

•

We propose that the cost of stabilising signals explain why effort is expensive.

It Pays to Prepare: Human Motor Preparation Depends on the Relative Value of Potential Response Options

Alternative motor responses can be prepared in parallel. Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to test whether the parallel preparation of alternative response options is modulated by their relative value. Participants performed a choice response task with three potential actions: isometric contraction of the left, the right, or both wrists. An imperative stimulus (IS) appeared after a warning cue, such that the initiation time of a required action was predictable, but the specific action was not. To encourage advanced preparation, the target was presented 200 ms prior to the IS, and only correct responses initiated within ±100 ms of the IS were rewarded. At baseline, all targets were equally rewarded and probable. Then, responses with one hand were made more valuable, either by increasing the probability that the left or right target would be required (Exp. 1; n = 31) or by increasing the reward magnitude of one target (Exp. 2, n = 36). We measured reaction times, movement vigor, and an EEG correlate of action preparation (value-based lateralized readiness potential) prior to target presentation. Participants responded earlier to more frequent and more highly rewarded targets, and movements to highly rewarded targets were more vigorous. The EEG was more negative over the hemisphere contralateral to the more repeated/rewarded hand, implying an increased neural preparation of more valuable actions. Thus, changing the value of alternative response options can lead to greater preparation of actions associated with more valuable outcomes. This preparation asymmetry likely contributes to behavioral biases that are typically observed toward repeated or rewarded targets.

Vigor of reaching movements: reward discounts the cost of effort

Making a movement may be thought of as an economic decision in which one spends effort to acquire reward. Time discounts reward, which predicts that the magnitude of reward should affect movement vigor: we should move faster, spending greater effort, when there is greater reward at stake. Indeed, saccade peak velocities are greater and reaction-times shorter when a target is paired with reward. In this study, we focused on human reaching and asked whether movement kinematics were affected by expectation of reward. Participants made out-and-back reaching movements to one of four quadrants of a 14-cm circle. During various periods of the experiment only one of the four quadrants was paired with reward, and the transition from reward to nonreward status of a quadrant occurred randomly. Our experiment design minimized dependence of reward on accuracy, granting the subjects wide latitude in self-selecting their movement speed, amplitude, and variability. When a quadrant was paired with reward, reaching movements had a shorter reaction time, higher peak velocity, and greater amplitude. Despite this greater vigor, movements toward the rewarded quadrant suffered from less variability: both reaction times and reach kinematics were less variable when there was expectation of reward. Importantly, the effect of reward on vigor was specific to the movement component that preceded the time of reward (outward reach), not the movement component that followed it (return reach). Our results suggest that expectation of reward not only increases vigor of human reaching but also decreases its variability. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Movements may be thought of as an economic transaction where the vigor of the movement represents the effort that the brain is willing to expend to acquire a rewarding state. We show that in reaching, reward discounts the cost of effort, producing movements with shorter reaction time, higher velocity, greater amplitude, and reduced reaction-time variability. These results complement earlier observations in saccades, suggesting a common principle of economics across modalities of motor control.

Interactions of Motivation and Cognitive Control

There is general agreement that both motivation and cognitive control play critical roles in shaping goal-directed behavior, but only recently has scientific interest focused around the question of motivation-control interactions. Here we briefly survey this literature, organizing contemporary findings around three issues: 1) whether motivation preferentially impacts cognitive control processes, 2) the neural mechanisms that underlie motivation-cognition interactions, and 3) why motivation might be relevant for overcoming the costs of control. Dopamine (DA) is discussed as a key neuromodulator in these motivation-cognition interactions. We conclude by highlighting open issues, specifically Pavlovian versus instrumental control distinctions and effects of motivational valence and conflict, which could benefit from future research attention.

Dopamine and Proximity in Motivation and Cognitive Control

Cognitive control - the ability to override a salient or prepotent action to execute a more deliberate one - is required for flexible, goal-directed behavior, and yet it is subjectively costly: decision-makers avoid allocating control resources, even when doing so affords more valuable outcomes. Dopamine likely offsets effort costs just as it does for physical effort. And yet, dopamine can also promote impulsive action, undermining control. We propose a novel hypothesis that reconciles opposing effects of dopamine on cognitive control: during action selection, striatal dopamine biases benefits relative to costs, but does so preferentially for "proximal" motor and cognitive actions. Considering the nature of instrumental affordances and their dynamics during action selection facilitates a parsimonious interpretation and conserved corticostriatal mechanisms across physical and cognitive domains.

Motivated Cognition: Effects of Reward, Emotion, and Other Motivational Factors Across a Variety of Cognitive Domains

A growing body of literature has demonstrated that motivation influences cognitive processing. The breadth of these effects is extensive and span influences of reward, emotion, and other motivational processes across all cognitive domains. As examples, this scope includes studies of emotional memory, value-based attentional capture, emotion effects on semantic processing, reward-related biases in decision making, and the role of approach/avoidance motivation on cognitive scope. Additionally, other less common forms of motivation–cognition interactions, such as self-referential and motoric processing can also be considered instances of motivated cognition. Here I outline some of the evidence indicating the generality and pervasiveness of these motivation influences on cognition, and introduce the associated ‘research nexus’ at Collabra: Psychology.