Motivation and Cognitive Control: From Behavior to Neural Mechanism

In the paper

“Lynn et al. (2012) found that experimental participants performing Stroop and working-memory tasks reported an increase in the urge to quit immediately following difficult, conflict-inducing trials.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Lynn et al. 2012

In the paper

“the intensity and direction of control tend to vary over time, both in response to the details of the task and independent of them”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Eichele et al. 2008
• Not checked yetcites Esterman et al. 2013
• Not checked yetcites Weissman et al. 2006

In the paper

“Conflict adjustment effects have also been observed to increase in size following performance-contingent monetary rewards”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Braem et al. 2012
• Not checked yetcites St ürmer et al. 2011
• Not checked yetcites Braem et al. 2013

In the paper

“The attention-distraction group showed a subsequent reduction in measured working memory capacity, relative to the control group.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Schmeichel 2007

In the paper

“the investment of cognitive effort can be driven by internal sources of motivation”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Cacioppo et al. 1996
• Not checked yetcites Deci & Ryan 2000
• Not checked yetcites Nicholls 1984

In the paper

“Enhanced performance was found on reward trials relative to nonreward trials, in terms of both error rates and response times.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Padmala & Pessoa 2011

In the paper

“The introduction or enlargement of performance-contingent rewards or punishments results in improvements in task performance, specifically attributable to enhanced executive control.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Padmala & Pessoa 2011

In the paper

“we advocate for a view of control function that treats it as a domain of reward-based decision making.”

In the paper

“recent work has adopted an alternative perspective on the depletion effect, characterizing it as a motivational phenomenon.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Inzlicht et al. 2014

In the paper

“Similar incentive-induced performance improvements in control have been observed in a range of other tasks, tapping other facets of executive function.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Libby & Lipe 1992
• Not checked yetcites Leotti & Wager 2010
• Not checked yetcites Aarts et al. 2010

In the paper

“depletion can be reduced or eliminated by performance incentives”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Boksem et al. 2006
• Not checked yetcites Inzlicht et al. 2014
• Not checked yetcites Muraven & Slessareva 2003

In the paper

“they nonetheless combine with the observations described previously to show that the relationship is generally extremely strong.”

In the paper

“resource-based accounts rest upon the additional-and frankly unnecessary-assumption that the dynamics of motivation reflect levels of a limited-capacity resource.”

In the paper

“force-field theories such as CET can be interpreted in terms that align them with certain reward-based accounts.”

In the paper

“when this principle is applied to force-field accounts of motivation, the resulting optimization process does not have a transparent psychological interpretation.”

In the paper

“This dual mediating role exacerbates the measurement problem, since it is difficult to independently estimate (or manipulate) the performance-related and cost-related facets of effort.”

In the paper

“Kool & Botvinick (2014) confirmed that these predictions hold in the case of cognitive effort, just as they have been shown to hold in labor markets.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kool & Botvinick 2014

In the paper

“neuroscience may offer a solution to the problem of circularity associated with the construct of reward.”

In the paper

“Absent a more compelling candidate, the resource in strength theory and related accounts remains an abstract one, manifesting only through its supposed impact on behavior.”

In the paper

“Effort is a key ingredient in many (if not all) theories relating motivation to cognitive control”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bettman et al. 1990
• Not checked yetcites Bonner & Sprinkle 2002
• Not checked yetcites Camerer & Hogarth 1999

In the paper

“resource accounts have imported a motivational factor, according to which depletion makes the subject not less able to mobilize control, but simply less willing to do so”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hagger et al. 2010

In the paper

“autonomic effects on cardiac, pupillary, and metabolic function have been used to considerable effect as independent measures of effort”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Fairclough & Houston 2004
• Not checked yetcites Silvestrini & Gendolla 2013
• Not checked yetcites Silvia et al. 2014

In the paper

“Neuroscience appears capable of playing a similar role when it comes to the effort construct.”

In the paper

“Kool et al. (2010) observed a consistent preference for the lower-demand source”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kool et al. 2010

In the paper

“These and related considerations have led to a recent trend away from resource-based accounts of the depletion effect and toward motivational or reward-based accounts”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hagger et al. 2010
• Not checked yetcites Inzlicht & Schmeichel 2012
• Not checked yetcites Kurzban et al. 2013

In the paper

“when compared with resource accounts, reward-based models have the advantage of being more parsimonious.”

In the paper

“Because the theory is not framed in terms of an optimization process, it is difficult for it to explain why one strategy might be preferred over another without moving outside the scope of the force-field mechanism.”

In the paper

“A similar though less often noted problem attaches to a second construct that is central to many reward-based theories of motivation and control, namely the construct of effort.”

In the paper

“If neural correlates of effort can be identified, this provides a way out of the potential circularity of effort-based explanation.”

In the paper

“In reward-based accounts, the reluctance stems directly from the utility function, which changes shape based on the recent history of effort expenditure”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kool & Botvinick 2014

In the paper

“Reward-based accounts of the relations between motivation and cognitive control also have some apparent advantages over force-field models.”

In the paper

“as current data in fact do suggest (Levy & Glimcher 2012)”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Levy & Glimcher 2012

In the paper

“reward-based accounts center on an optimization process, in which different control operations are compared in terms of their associated net rewards”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Shenhav et al. 2013

In the paper

“There is an obvious risk of circularity here: Choice is explained based on reward, but reward is inferred from choice.”

In the paper

“it is possible to map directly among the three approaches.”

In the paper

“reward-based theories of the motivation-control interface appear to have an edge over other approaches.”

In the paper

“accumulating evidence has seriously undermined its plausibility”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Inzlicht et al. 2014
• Not checked yetcites Kurzban et al. 2013

In the paper

“The problem becomes deeper when effort is also assumed to carry an inherent cost”

In the paper

“findings from psychophysiology point the way to more central neuroscientific measures through which contact might be made with genuine mediating mechanisms.”

In the paper

“Detailed behavioral analyses confirmed that this preference was not wholly driven by error avoidance or by minimization of time on task.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kool et al. 2010

In the paper

“reward-based theories carry their own special liability.This attaches to the construct of reward itself.”

In the paper

“it is not clear from a psychological point of view exactly what force-field models are optimizing.”

In the paper

“the depletion effect can be prevented by offering strong performance incentives (Muraven & Slessareva 2003).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Muraven & Slessareva 2003

In the paper

“it remains an ineluctable problem for any psychological theory that would leverage the notion of reward”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Padoa-Schioppa 2011

In the paper

“high-reward conditions selectively amplify delayperiod activity within the lateral PFC, parietal cortex, and other components of the brain cognitive control network.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Gilbert & Fiez 2004
• Not checked yetcites Krawczyk et al. 2007
• Not checked yetcites Pochon et al. 2002

In the paper

“evidence suggests that the ACC may serve as a key interface between reward and control networks”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Kouneiher et al. 2009
• Not checked yetcites Vassena et al. 2014

In the paper

“These and related results provided the first neuroscientific evidence that motivational signals can modulate core components of cognitive control.”

In the paper

“DA neurons show phasic responses to reward cues”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Schultz 1998

In the paper

“Dixon & Christoff (2012) used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) adaptation methods to show that activity in lateral PFC is sensitive to the conjunction of task rule and trial reward value, such that activity was modulated only when there was repetition of both dimensions.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Dixon & Christoff 2012

In the paper

“Studies of reward-based decision making have, in parallel, identified a distinct network of relevant structures including ventromedial and orbitofrontal cortex, ventral striatum (including the nucleus accumbens), and amygdala, as well as the ventral tegmental area”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bartra et al. 2013
• Not checked yetcites Clithero & Rangel 2014
• Not checked yetcites Liu et al. 2011

In the paper

“Convergent evidence suggests that these effects within the control network are driven by input from the set of brain areas we have referred to collectively as the reward network.”

In the paper

“its involvement in this spiral pathway points to a potential role for DA in connecting control with motivation”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Aarts et al. 2011

In the paper

“a wide range of evidence indicates that the ACC is involved in reward-based decision making”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Wallis & Kennerley 2011

In the paper

“information from ventral cortical areas belonging to the reward network may flow to dorsal control areas via a spiral-like pathway running through the striatum via anatomically asymmetric projections to and from the ventral tegmental areas”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Haber et al. 2000

In the paper

“neuroscience offers to play a more pivotal role, occupying the critical path toward a causally adequate understanding of the motivation-control interface.”

In the paper

“tonic DA release has been linked to sustained motivational behaviors”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Howe et al. 2013

In the paper

“PFC neurons involved in working memory display tonically elevated baseline activity during trial blocks involving relatively large or preferred rewards, persisting even through isolated trials in which task cues indicate that no reward is available.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Watanabe 1996
• Not checked yetcites Watanabe et al. 2002

In the paper

“Padmala & Pessoa (2011) proposed a model in which reward cues trigger motivational signals in subcortical reward structures, which then provide a source of increased drive to frontoparietal cognitive control regions, enabling more effective utilization of control processes.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Padmala & Pessoa 2011

In the paper

“the results of such studies largely support the view that motivational signals enhance cognitive control functions by sharpening how task goals and other task-relevant information are represented, maintained, and utilized within lateral PFC and associated regions of the brain's control network.”

In the paper

“the ubiquity of reward-related signals in the relevant areas seems to justify viewing them together as a coherent network that is focused in a broad sense upon reward processing.”

In the paper

“Neuroscientific studies of cognitive control have identified a set of cortical and subcortical structures that appear to work together to implement control function.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Cole & Schneider 2007
• Not checked yetcites Duncan 2010
• Not checked yetcites Niendam et al. 2012

In the paper

“Anatomical data are certainly consistent with this possibility.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Barbas & Pandya 1989
• Not checked yetcites Cavada et al. 2000
• Not checked yetcites Alexander et al. 1986

In the paper

“Compared with a control group that performed a less demanding intervening task, the depleted group showed a reduction in task-induced activity in left inferior PFC, ACC, caudate nucleus, and cerebellum following the working memory task”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Persson et al. (2013)

In the paper

“Another fMRI study, by Wagner et al. (2013), suggests that depletion can involve changes in the functional connectivity between prefrontal control areas and other cortical areas with which they communicate.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Wagner et al. (2013)

In the paper

“Here again, a weakening of error monitoring is observed at the neural level.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Inzlicht & Gutsell (2007)

In the paper

“These results were interpreted as indicating that the ACC provides a source of excitatory drive that results in increased connectivity selectively between task-relevant processing regions.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Rowe et al. 2008

In the paper

“Hajcak et al. (2005), for example, observed a larger ERN on trials where a large reward for correct performance was at stake relative to trials involving a smaller potential reward”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hajcak et al. 2005

In the paper

“after performing a cognitively depleting attention control task, a group of dieters showed enhanced orbitofrontal cortex responses to images of food items”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Wagner et al. (2013)

In the paper

“Among subjects who responded to these incentives primarily by increasing accuracy, a restoration of ERN amplitude was also observed.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Boksem et al. (2006)

In the paper

“the account postulates that motivation signals, reflected in terms of phasic and tonic DA release, should lead to a preferential enhancement of proactive control.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Braver 2012
• Not checked yetcites Braver et al. 2007

In the paper

“a wide range of studies have reported an inverse relationship between activity in the executive network and a different set of regions, including ventromedial PFC and posterior cingulate cortex.”

In the paper

“this study also observed increased activity in the homologous right inferior PFC region”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Persson et al. (2013)

In the paper

“In addition to driving trial-to-trial shifts in control, performance monitoring can display its own longer-term dynamics.”

In the paper

“the magnitude of posterror slowing returned to baseline when monetary performance incentives were introduced.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Boksem et al. (2006)

In the paper

“which suggests that under some circumstances depletion may induce not a simple reduction in frontal function but instead a redistribution of activity.”

In the paper

“the most common finding in studies of incentive manipulations is that neural activity is modulated in a preparatory manner-i.e., prior to when responses are required”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Braver 2012
• Not checked yetcites Braver et al. 2007

In the paper

“alongside an increase in reaction times on trials associated with high control demands.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Persson et al. (2013)

In the paper

“High reward rates create an opportunity cost for sloth, such that all actions (even those that are unrewarded) are performed with higher vigor (i.e., faster latencies) in order to attain more rewards per unit time.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Niv et al. 2007

In the paper

“human studies of motivation and control interactions have consistently observed incentive-linked activity in DA nuclei that predicts performance in control-demanding tasks”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Aarts et al. 2010
• Not checked yetcites Adcock et al. 2006
• Not checked yetcites Krebs et al. 2012

In the paper

“In a second experiment in the same report, a similar effect on ERN magnitude was observed when participants were told that their performance would be monitored and later compared with that of other participants.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hajcak et al. 2005

In the paper

“Bengtsson et al. (2009) observed a related effect by using fMRI.Here, participants who were informed that their cognitive ability was being assessed showed increased error-associated activity in dorsal ACC and lateral PFC relative to subjects performing the same task without the assessment cover story”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Bengtsson et al. 2009

In the paper

“In particular, error monitoring can lapse with increasing time on task.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Boksem et al. (2006)

In the paper

“Together, these findings suggest that reward incentives primarily target proactive (i.e., preparatory) control processes.”

In the paper

“but this effect was accompanied by reduced functional connectivity between orbitofrontal cortex and both right and left inferior frontal cortex.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Wagner et al. (2013)

In the paper

“Although Boksem and colleagues (2006) characterized these findings in terms of mental fatigue, similar temporal dynamics are involved in what has been referred to as ego depletion”

In the paper

“Inzlicht & Gutsell (2007) found a reduction in ERN amplitude in a Stroop task when this task was performed following a depleting emotion-suppression task.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Inzlicht & Gutsell (2007)

In the paper

“Boksem et al. (2006), who observed a steady reduction in posterror slowing over the course of two hours performing a cue-validity task.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Boksem et al. (2006)

In the paper

“Through concurrent EEG recording, the same study revealed a concurrent reduction in the magnitude of the ERN.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Boksem et al. (2006)

In the paper

“A parallel reduction was seen in the N2”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Boksem et al. (2006)

In the paper

“The exertion of cognitive control is experienced as subjectively costly, as demonstrated in terms of demand-selection and economic discounting phenomena described above.”

In the paper

“the social-personality literature has provided a wealth of data concerning the central role of goal representations as mediating between motivation and behavior (Fishbach & Ferguson 2007, Hockey 1997, Locke & Latham 2013).”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Fishbach & Ferguson 2007
• Not checked yetcites Hockey 1997
• Not checked yetcites Locke & Latham 2013

In the paper

“the reward circuits underlying motivational effects in control appear to strongly overlap with those involved in other varieties of reward-based choice”

In the paper

“The goal construct has, to date, been considered in a relatively simplified manner within neuroscience (i.e., in terms of simple task rules).”

In the paper

“At moments when participants chose the higher-demand option, greater activity was observed in the striatum, including nucleus accumbens, than when the lower-demand option was chosen.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Schouppe et al. (2014)

In the paper

“the ACC seems to be an important hub for physical effort-based decision making”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Walton et al. 2006
• Not checked yetcites Hosokawa et al. 2013

In the paper

“It seems clear, from the available evidence, that cognitive effort is closely tied to engagement of the executive control network, spanning dorsolateral PFC, ACC, and intraparietal cortex.”

In the paper

“McGuire & Botvinick (2010; see also Kool et al. 2013) found that the degree to which performance of a cognitively demanding task engaged these regions predicted the extent to which that same task would later be avoided.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites McGuire & Botvinick (2010)
• Not checked yetcites Kool et al. 2013

In the paper

“some ACC neurons code for physical effort demands during effort-based decision making (Hosokawa et al. 2013)”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Hosokawa et al. 2013

In the paper

“At an implementation level, the available data strongly suggest that motivational effects in control reflect interactions between two large-scale brain networks, one centrally involved in representing reward value and the other involved in implementing control function.”

In the paper

“it suggests a view of control function that centers on an ongoing cost-benefit analysis, in which the potential rewards of control engagement are weighed against its inherent disutility.”

In the paper

“Participants performed cognitive tasks to earn monetary rewards, and ventral striatum activity was found to increase at the time of reward delivery.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Botvinick et al. (2009)

In the paper

“Neuroscientific data, although currently sparse, encourage this reorientation by showing that depletion is not generally accompanied by overall reductions in brain activity (as a metabolic account would predict)”

In the paper

“and that it involves changes in activity both in reward networks and in centers that have been linked with control costs.”

In the paper

“several neural structures, including dopaminergic projections, ventral striatum, ventromedial PFC, lateral PFC, and ACC appear to serve as critical channels for control-relevant motivational signals.”

In the paper

“In the ventral striatum and ACC, DA levels appear to modulate effort-based decision making”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Salamone et al. 2012

In the paper

“fMRI revealed elevated activity in both dorsal cingulate and dorsolateral PFC on trials in which the participant actively chose to forgo rather than engage for potential reward.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Magno et al. (2006)

In the paper

“Together, these findings are consistent with a role for both dorsal ACC and dorsolateral PFC in cost-sensitive decision making related to the exertion of cognitive control”

In the paper

“Further research has revealed a role for both ACC and dorsolateral PFC in driving cognitive demand avoidance in decision making.”

In the paper

“the available results from neuroscience resonate strongly with the view that cognitive control represents a domain of reward-based decision making within which operations are selected based on decision mechanisms related to those involved in other forms of reward-based choice.”

In the paper

“Maddox & Markman (2010) further observed that nonlinear effects on cognitive control can result when incentives differ at local and global levels”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Maddox & Markman (2010)

In the paper

“reward responses were reduced when a high degree of mental effort had been required by the task”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Botvinick et al. (2009)

In the paper

“Another behavioral finding that presents an interesting opportunity for neuroscientific research is that the impact of incentives on controlled information processing can depend strongly on how those incentives are framed.”

In the paper

“an apparent neural correlate of cognitive effort discounting, in which the subjective value of a reward is decremented by the cost in effort required to attain it”

In the paper

“Botvinick and colleagues (2009) and Kool et al. (2013) observed that ventral striatal reward responses correlated negatively with the degree of activity in both ACC and dorsolateral PFC during performance of the foregoing cognitive task.”

What the sources say

• Not checked yetcites Botvinick et al. (2009)
• Not checked yetcites Kool et al. (2013)