A functional neuroimaging study of motivation and executive function
Abstract
Executive functions, such as working memory, must intersect with functions that determine value for the organism. Functional imaging work in humans and single-unit recordings in non-human primates provide evidence that PFC might integrate motivational context with working memory. With functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we addressed the question of motivation and working memory, using a trial-related design in an object-working memory task. The design permitted the analysis of BOLD signal at separate stages, corresponding to encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. Subjects were motivated by a financial incentive during the task, such that they could gain a high or a low reward. The two different levels of reward also entailed greater or lesser risk of losing money for incorrect responses. In the high, relative to the low, reward condition, subjects shifted response bias, and showed a trend to greater sensitivity. We found main effects in fMRI BOLD signal for reward, which overlapped with BOLD effects for maintenance of information, in the right superior frontal sulcus and bilateral intraparietal sulcus. We also found an interaction between reward and retrieval from working memory in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Main effects of load and reward occurred in adjacent regions of the ventrolateral PFC during retrieval. The data demonstrate that when subjects perform a simple working memory task, financial incentives motivate performance and interact with some of the same neural networks that process various stages of working memory. Areas of overlap and interaction may integrate information about value, or they may represent a general effect of motivation increasing neural effort.
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Tasks that require PFC involvement, confirmable to some degree by neuroimaging, should all exhibit the curvilinear component of the Yerkes-Dodson law.
“We would suggest that, as a general rule, tasks that require the involvement of the PFC, which can be confirmed to some degree by neuroimaging techniques (Callicott et al. [411]; Ranganath et al. [412]; Taylor et al. [368]; Ranganath and D'Esposito [413]; Curtis [371]), should all exhibit the curvilinear component of the Yerkes-Dodson law.”
From The Temporal Dynamics Model of Emotional Memory Processing: A Synthesis on the Neurobiological Basis of Stress-Induced Amnesia, Flashbulb and Traumatic Memories, and the Yerkes-Dodson Law (2007) · cites this paper as Taylor et al. [368]
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- Authors
- Taylor, S. F., Welsh, R. C., Wager, T. D., Luan Phan, K., Fitzgerald, K. D., & Gehring, W. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Taylor, Stephan F
- Venue
- NeuroImage
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2004-03
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1045-1054
- ISSN
- 1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1973339267
- Cited by
- 222
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 3.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (K08MH001258)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Keywords
- motivation, executive function, working memory, reward, financial incentives, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, intraparietal sulcus, superior frontal sulcus, working memory maintenance, working memory retrieval, response bias, value integration
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Brain, Female, Form Perception, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Motivation, Psychomotor Performance, Reward, Prefrontal Cortex
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