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Updated: Jan 13, 2026
05:04
An Electrophysiology Protocol to Measure Reward Anticipation and Processing in Children
Published on: October 4, 2018
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Investigating Neural Reward Sensitivity in the School Grade Incentive Delay Task and Its Relation to Academic
Myrthe J B Vel Tromp1, Hilde M Huizenga1, Brenda R J Jansen1
1Department of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 129, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|October 29, 2025
Summary
Academic buoyancy, or coping with academic challenges, may be linked to reward sensitivity. Students with lower emotional reactivity during reward anticipation showed greater academic buoyancy.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Academic buoyancy helps students manage daily academic challenges and maintain motivation.
- Reward sensitivity, the capacity to experience pleasure from rewards, is a potential factor influencing academic buoyancy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural mechanisms of reward processing in an academic context using a modified task.
- To examine the association between academic buoyancy and neural responses during reward anticipation.
Main Methods:
- A modified Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task, termed the School Grade Incentive Delay (SGID) task, was developed for academic settings.
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity during the SGID task.
Main Results:
- The SGID task successfully activated brain regions involved in reward anticipation, similar to the traditional MID task.
- A negative association was observed between academic buoyancy and activation in the right amygdala during reward anticipation.
Conclusions:
- The SGID task is a valid tool for studying academic reward processing.
- Reduced emotional reactivity in the amygdala during reward anticipation may be a characteristic of students with higher academic buoyancy.
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