RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Reward motivation modulates coding of behaviorally relevant category distinctions across the frontoparietal cortex
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 609537
DO 10.1101/609537
A1 Sneha Shashidhara
A1 Yaara Erez
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/07/09/609537.abstract
AB Selection and integration of information based on current goals is a fundamental aspect of flexible goal-directed behavior. Motivation has been shown to improve behavioral performance across multiple cognitive tasks, yet the underlying neural mechanisms that link motivation and control processes, and in particular its effect on context-dependent information processing, remain unclear. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 24 human volunteers to test whether reward motivation enhances the coding of behaviorally relevant category distinctions across the frontoparietal cortex. In a cued-detection categorization task, participants detected whether an object from a cued visual category was present in a subsequent display. Objects from one of two cued categories could serve as either Targets or High-conflict nontargets, depending on the cue on a given trial. Objects from a third category were never cued and served as Low-conflict nontargets, thus yielding three levels of behavioral status for the displayed categories (Targets, High-conflict nontargets, and Low-conflict nontargets). Half of all trials offered the possibility of a substantial reward. Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) showed a conflict-contingent enhancement effect of reward across the frontoparietal cortex. Reward increased the discrimination between highly conflicting behavioral status conditions, but not between less conflicting distinctions, and this selective effect was not driven by visual differences. In contrast, reward did not modulate these task-related distinctions in the high-level general object visual region, the lateral occipital complex. These findings suggest that reward modulates the representation of behaviorally relevant information only when it is most needed to successfully complete a task, and therefore facilitates an efficient allocation of attentional resources.