Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Biopsychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.
Behav Brain Res. 2013 Aug 1;250:304-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.05.010. Epub 2013 May 13.
Dual-task situations play a pivotal role in daily life and are subject to a research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. From a neuroscience perspective, the response selection bottleneck may be partly constituted by the dopaminergic system. The dopaminergic system plays a pivotal role in reward and punishment effects. In the current study we therefore investigated the effects of rewards and punishments as a potential modulator of dual-tasking processes. We examined dual-task performance in the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm, where the task order was either predictable, or unpredictable. Three groups were tested; a punishment group (N=14), a reward group (N=18) and a control group (N=16). The results show that in the punishment condition, dual-task performance is increased relative to controls (i.e., faster RTs). In the reward condition performance decreased relative to controls. The effects observed were of moderate to high effect sizes. However, the effects were only evident when task performance was unpredictable. These divergent effects of rewards and punishments on dual-tasking may be explained by the differential involvement of different dopamine receptors in rewards and punishments, and their effects on the amount and flexibility of task goals in working memory.
双任务情境在日常生活中起着关键作用，是认知心理学和神经科学研究的课题。从神经科学的角度来看，反应选择瓶颈可能部分由多巴胺系统构成。多巴胺系统在奖惩效应中起着关键作用。在目前的研究中，我们因此研究了奖惩作为双任务过程潜在调节剂的作用。我们在心理不应期（PRP）范式中检查了双任务表现，其中任务顺序要么是可预测的，要么是不可预测的。我们测试了三组；惩罚组（N=14）、奖励组（N=18）和对照组（N=16）。结果表明，在惩罚条件下，双任务表现相对于对照组（即更快的 RT）增加。在奖励条件下，表现相对于对照组下降。观察到的影响具有中等至高的效应大小。然而，只有当任务表现不可预测时，才会出现这些奖惩对双任务的不同影响。奖惩对双任务的这种不同影响可以用不同的多巴胺受体在奖惩中的不同参与及其对工作记忆中任务目标数量和灵活性的影响来解释。
