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Fröber, Kerstin ; Dreisbach, Gesine

How Sequentially Changing Reward Prospect Modulates Meta-control: Increasing Reward Prospect Promotes Cognitive Flexibility

Fröber, Kerstin and Dreisbach, Gesine (2020) How Sequentially Changing Reward Prospect Modulates Meta-control: Increasing Reward Prospect Promotes Cognitive Flexibility. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience.

Date of publication of this fulltext: 09 Feb 2021 07:39
Article
DOI to cite this document: 10.5283/epub.44817


Abstract

Meta-control is necessary to regulate the balance between cognitive stability and flexibility. Evidence from (voluntary) task switching studies suggests performance-contingent reward as one modulating factor. Depending on the immediate reward history, reward prospect seems to promote either cognitive stability or flexibility: Increasing reward prospect reduced switch costs and increased the ...

Meta-control is necessary to regulate the balance between cognitive stability and flexibility. Evidence from (voluntary) task switching studies suggests performance-contingent reward as one modulating factor. Depending on the immediate reward history, reward prospect seems to promote either cognitive stability or flexibility: Increasing reward prospect reduced switch costs and increased the voluntary switch rate, suggesting increased cognitive flexibility. In contrast, remaining high reward prospect increased switch costs and reduced the voluntary switch rate, suggesting increased cognitive stability. Recently we suggested that increasing reward prospect serves as a meta-control signal toward cognitive flexibility by lowering the updating threshold in working memory. However, in task switching paradigms with two tasks only, this could alternatively be explained by facilitated switching to the other of two tasks. To address this issue, a series of task switching experiments with uncued task switching between three univalent tasks was conducted. Results showed a reduction in reaction time (RT) switch costs to a nonsignificant difference and a high voluntary switch rate when reward prospect increased, whereas repetition RTs were faster, switch RTs slower, and voluntary switch rate was reduced when reward prospect remained high. That is, increasing reward prospect put participants in a state of equal readiness to respond to any target stimulus-be it a task repetition or a switch to one of the other two tasks. The study thus provides further evidence for the assumption that increasing reward prospect serves as a meta-control signal to increase cognitive flexibility, presumably by lowering the updating threshold in working memory.



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Details

Item typeArticle
Journal or Publication TitleCognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
Publisher:Springer
Place of Publication:NEW YORK
Date2020
InstitutionsHuman Sciences > Institut für Psychologie > Lehrstuhl für Psychologie II (Allgemeine und Angewandte Psychologie) - Prof. Dr. Gesine Dreisbach
Identification Number
ValueType
10.3758/s13415-020-00825-1DOI
KeywordsCOMPUTATIONAL MODELS; POSITIVE AFFECT; MENTAL REPRESENTATION; PREFRONTAL CORTEX; DOPAMINE; STABILITY; MECHANISMS; COSTS; MAINTENANCE; BENEFITS; Meta-control; Reward; Flexibility; Stability; Task switching
Dewey Decimal Classification100 Philosophy & psychology > 150 Psychology
StatusPublished
RefereedYes, this version has been refereed
Created at the University of RegensburgYes
URN of the UB Regensburgurn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-448175
Item ID44817

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