Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Cognition. 2012 Nov;125(2):324-32. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.07.015. Epub 2012 Aug 11.
Both cognitive conflict (e.g. Verguts & Notebaert, 2009) and reward signals (e.g. Waszak & Pholulamdeth, 2009) have been proposed to enhance task-relevant associations. Bringing these two notions together, we predicted that reward modulates conflict-based sequential adaptations in cognitive control. This was tested combining either a single flanker task (Experiment 1) or a task-switch paradigm (Experiment 2) with performance-related rewards. Both experiments confirmed that adaptations after conflict were modulated by reward. In the flanker task, this resulted in increased conflict adaptation after rewarded trials. In the task-switching experiment, reward increased the conflict-modulated switch cost. Interestingly, both adaptations to conflict disappeared after no-reward trials. Moreover, individual differences in participants' sensitivity to reward predicted these reward modulations of trial-to-trial adaptations. These findings shed new light on the exact role of cognitive conflict in shaping subsequent behavior.
摘要：认知冲突（例如 Verguts & Notebaert，2009）和奖励信号（例如 Waszak & Pholulamdeth，2009）都被认为可以增强与任务相关的联想。我们将这两个概念结合在一起，预测奖励会调节认知控制中的基于冲突的序列适应。通过将单一的侧抑制任务（实验 1）或任务转换范式（实验 2）与与绩效相关的奖励相结合，验证了这一预测。两个实验都证实，冲突后适应受奖励调节。在侧抑制任务中，奖励导致在受奖励的试验后增加冲突适应。在任务转换实验中，奖励增加了受冲突调节的转换代价。有趣的是，在无奖励试验后，两种冲突适应都消失了。此外，参与者对奖励的敏感性的个体差异预测了这些基于试次的适应的奖励调节。这些发现为冲突在塑造后续行为中的精确作用提供了新的视角。
