Embedding Reward Signals into Perception and Cognition

Overview

Journal Front Neurosci

Date 2010 Sep 23

PMID 20859524

Citations 123

Authors

Luiz Pessoa

Jan B Engelmann

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Despite considerable interest in the neural basis of valuation, the question of how valuation affects cognitive processing has received relatively less attention. Here, we review evidence from recent behavioral and neuroimaging studies supporting the notion that motivation can enhance perceptual and executive control processes to achieve more efficient goal-directed behavior. Specifically, in the context of cognitive tasks offering monetary gains, improved behavioral performance has been repeatedly observed in conjunction with elevated neural activations in task-relevant perceptual, cognitive and reward-related regions. We address the neural basis of motivation-cognition interactions by suggesting various modes of communication between relevant neural networks: (1) global hub regions may integrate information from multiple inputs providing a communicative link between specialized networks; (2) point-to-point interactions allow for more specific cross-network communication; and (3) diffuse neuromodulatory systems can relay motivational signals to cortex and enhance signal processing. Together, these modes of communication allow information regarding motivational significance to reach relevant brain regions and shape behavior.

Citing Articles

The Impact of Immediate and Delayed Rewards on Task-Switching Performance.

Zhao G, Wang H, Wu R, Zhao Z, Li S, Wang Q Brain Sci. 2025; 15(2).

PMID: 40002433 PMC: 11852446. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci15020100.

The benefit of extrinsic motivation on effortful cognitive control is influenced by need for cognition.

Yang Q, Xu R, Zhang L, Qiao L Psychol Res. 2025; 89(1):46.

PMID: 39825942 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-024-02074-0.

Time is Confidence: Monetary Incentives Metacognitive Profile on Duration Judgment.

Taghizadeh Sarabi M, Zimmermann E J Cogn. 2025; 8(1):8.

PMID: 39803177 PMC: 11721049. DOI: 10.5334/joc.414.

Can rewards enhance creativity? Exploring the effects of real and hypothetical rewards on creative problem solving and neural mechanisms.

Cui C, Yuan Y, Jiang Y Behav Brain Funct. 2024; 20(1):37.

PMID: 39732718 PMC: 11681702. DOI: 10.1186/s12993-024-00264-9.

Evidence for the Beneficial Effect of Reward on Working Memory: A Meta-Analytic Study.

Wang W, Yan X, He X, Qian J J Intell. 2024; 12(9).

PMID: 39330467 PMC: 11433210. DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence12090088.

References

Watanabe M, Sakagami M . Integration of cognitive and motivational context information in the primate prefrontal cortex. Cereb Cortex. 2007; 17 Suppl 1:i101-9. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhm067. View

Shuler M, Bear M . Reward timing in the primary visual cortex. Science. 2006; 311(5767):1606-9. DOI: 10.1126/science.1123513. View

Douglas R, Martin K . Recurrent neuronal circuits in the neocortex. Curr Biol. 2007; 17(13):R496-500. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.04.024. View

Platt M, Huettel S . Risky business: the neuroeconomics of decision making under uncertainty. Nat Neurosci. 2008; 11(4):398-403. PMC: 3065064. DOI: 10.1038/nn2062. View

Pantoja J, Ribeiro S, Wiest M, Soares E, Gervasoni D, Lemos N . Neuronal activity in the primary somatosensory thalamocortical loop is modulated by reward contingency during tactile discrimination. J Neurosci. 2007; 27(39):10608-20. PMC: 6673144. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5279-06.2007. View

ODoherty J, Kringelbach M, Rolls E, Hornak J, Andrews C . Abstract reward and punishment representations in the human orbitofrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci. 2001; 4(1):95-102. DOI: 10.1038/82959. View

Pessoa L . How do emotion and motivation direct executive control?. Trends Cogn Sci. 2009; 13(4):160-6. PMC: 2773442. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2009.01.006. View

Maunsell J . Neuronal representations of cognitive state: reward or attention?. Trends Cogn Sci. 2004; 8(6):261-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2004.04.003. View

Gruber A, Dayan P, Gutkin B, Solla S . Dopamine modulation in the basal ganglia locks the gate to working memory. J Comput Neurosci. 2006; 20(2):153-66. DOI: 10.1007/s10827-005-5705-x. View

10.

Serences J . Value-based modulations in human visual cortex. Neuron. 2008; 60(6):1169-81. PMC: 3384552. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.10.051. View

11.

Sporns O, Honey C, Kotter R . Identification and classification of hubs in brain networks. PLoS One. 2007; 2(10):e1049. PMC: 2013941. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0001049. View

12.

Kouneiher F, Charron S, Koechlin E . Motivation and cognitive control in the human prefrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci. 2009; 12(7):939-45. DOI: 10.1038/nn.2321. View

13.

DArdenne K, McClure S, Nystrom L, Cohen J . BOLD responses reflecting dopaminergic signals in the human ventral tegmental area. Science. 2008; 319(5867):1264-7. DOI: 10.1126/science.1150605. View

14.

Guimera R, Nunes Amaral L . Functional cartography of complex metabolic networks. Nature. 2005; 433(7028):895-900. PMC: 2175124. DOI: 10.1038/nature03288. View

15.

Engelmann J, Pessoa L . Motivation sharpens exogenous spatial attention. Emotion. 2007; 7(3):668-74. DOI: 10.1037/1528-3542.7.3.668. View

16.

Mohanty A, Gitelman D, Small D, Marsel Mesulam M . The spatial attention network interacts with limbic and monoaminergic systems to modulate motivation-induced attention shifts. Cereb Cortex. 2008; 18(11):2604-13. PMC: 2567423. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhn021. View

17.

Bendiksby M, Platt M . Neural correlates of reward and attention in macaque area LIP. Neuropsychologia. 2006; 44(12):2411-20. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.04.011. View

18.

Pochon J, Levy R, Fossati P, Lehericy S, Poline J, Pillon B . The neural system that bridges reward and cognition in humans: an fMRI study. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002; 99(8):5669-74. PMC: 122829. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.082111099. View

19.

Jimura K, Locke H, Braver T . Prefrontal cortex mediation of cognitive enhancement in rewarding motivational contexts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010; 107(19):8871-6. PMC: 2889311. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1002007107. View

20.

Pleger B, Blankenburg F, Ruff C, Driver J, Dolan R . Reward facilitates tactile judgments and modulates hemodynamic responses in human primary somatosensory cortex. J Neurosci. 2008; 28(33):8161-8. PMC: 2682779. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1093-08.2008. View