Motivational context determines the impact of aversive outcomes on mental effort allocation.

It is well known that people will exert effort on a task if sufficiently motivated, but how they distribute these efforts across different strategies (e.g., efficiency vs.

An fMRI protocol for administering liquid incentives to human participants.

This protocol describes the materials and approaches for administering liquid incentives to human participants during fMRI scanning. We first describe preparation of the liquid solutions (e.g.

Aversive motivation and cognitive control.

Aversive motivation plays a prominent role in driving individuals to exert cognitive control. However, the complexity of behavioral responses attributed to aversive incentives creates significant challenges for developing a clear understanding of the neural mechanisms of this motivation-control interaction. We review the animal learning, systems neuroscience, and computational literatures to highlight the importance of experimental paradigms that incorporate both motivational context manipulations and mixed motivational components (e.

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex Encodes the Integrated Incentive Motivational Value of Cognitive Task Performance.

Humans can seamlessly combine value signals from diverse motivational incentives, yet it is not well understood how these signals are "bundled" in the brain to modulate cognitive control. The dorsal ACC (dACC) is theorized to integrate motivational value dimensions in the service of goal-directed action, although this hypothesis has yet to receive rigorous confirmation. In the present study, we examined the role of human dACC in motivational incentive integration.

Dissociable Effects of Monetary, Liquid, and Social Incentives on Motivation and Cognitive Control.

Humans are social creatures and, as such, can be motivated by aspects of social life (e.g., approval from others) to guide decision-making in everyday contexts.

Age-Related Differences in Motivational Integration and Cognitive Control.

Motivational incentives play an influential role in value-based decision-making and cognitive control. A compelling hypothesis in the literature suggests that the motivational value of diverse incentives are integrated in the brain into a common currency value signal that influences decision-making and behavior. To investigate whether motivational integration processes change during healthy aging, we tested older (N = 44) and younger (N = 54) adults in an innovative incentive integration task paradigm that establishes dissociable and additive effects of liquid (e.

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.

Humans Integrate Monetary and Liquid Incentives to Motivate Cognitive Task Performance.

It is unequivocal that a wide variety of incentives can motivate behavior. However, few studies have explicitly examined whether and how different incentives are integrated in terms of their motivational influence. The current study examines the combined effects of monetary and liquid incentives on cognitive processing, and whether appetitive and aversive incentives have distinct influences.