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Updated: Dec 22, 2025

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Memory-Enhancing Effect of Emotion
Published on: May 4, 2011
The effect of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on memory formation: insight from behavioral and imaging study
Hongxia Duan1,2, Guillén Fernández1, Eelco van Dongen1
1Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Motivation can be generated intrinsically or extrinsically, and both kinds of motivation show similar facilitatory effects on memory. However, effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on memory formation have not been studied in combination and thus, it is unknown whether they interact and how such interplay is neurally implemented. In the present study, both extrinsic monetary reward and intrinsic curiosity enhanced memory performance, without evidence for an interaction. Functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that curiosity-driven activity in the ventral striatal reward network appears to work cooperatively with the fronto-parietal attention network, while enhancing memory formation. In contrast, the monetary reward-modulated subsequent memory effect revealed deactivation in parietal midline regions. Thus, curiosity might enhance memory performance by allocation of attentional resources and reward-related processes; while, monetary reward does so by suppression of task-irrelevant processing.
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