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Reward masks the learning of cognitive control demand
Bettina Bustos1,2, Jiefeng Jiang1,2, Wouter Kool3
1Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA.
Cognitive Neurodynamics
|July 21, 2025
Summary
Reward hinders the brain's ability to adapt cognitive control to changing task demands. When performance-contingent rewards were present, participants could not adjust cognitive control, unlike in reward-absent conditions.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Decision Making
- Learning
Background:
- Cognitive control enables goal-directed behavior by modulating cognitive processes.
- Previous research indicates cognitive control adapts to factors like reward and effort.
- Real-world scenarios involve multiple simultaneous factors influencing cognitive control.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how cognitive control adapts to concurrently changing factors: statistical regularity in demand and performance-contingent reward.
- To test competing hypotheses on whether reward promotes or obstructs adaptation to cognitive control demand.
Main Methods:
- Within-subject manipulation of statistical regularity in cognitive control demand.
- Across-subject manipulation of performance-contingent reward.
- Utilized a computational model to track temporal changes in cognitive control.
Main Results:
- Participants successfully adjusted to varying cognitive control demands without reward.
- The presence of performance-contingent reward impaired adaptation to cognitive control demand.
- Findings indicate reward processing interferes with learning cognitive control adjustments.
Conclusions:
- Reward availability can block the learning and adaptation of cognitive control strategies.
- This suggests a potential trade-off between reward seeking and adaptive cognitive control.
- Future research should explore mechanisms underlying this reward-induced deficit.
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