Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University.
Department of Psychology, LMU Munchen.
Emotion. 2023 Aug;23(5):1349-1359. doi: 10.1037/emo0001171. Epub 2022 Sep 12.
Reward expectation reduces the interference of task-irrelevant emotional distractors by improving cognitive control. The current study investigated the effects of reward expectation on proactive and reactive cognitive control of negative distractors. Reward expectation (incentive vs. nonincentive trials) was manipulated by a precue signaling the opportunity to gain an extra monetary reward for fast and accurate response on a given trial, followed by the trial display with the response-relevant target stimuli in the periphery and an irrelevant, negative, or neutral distractor in the center. The frequency of negative distractors (high vs. low) was manipulated to induce a proactive or reactive control mode (between-participants factor). Mutilation images and angry faces were used as negative distractors in Experiments 1 (1A and 1B) and 2, respectively. Results revealed performance to be generally facilitated by reward expectation, and impaired by negative (vs. neutral) distractors. Importantly, reward expectation rendered a reduction of negative-distractor interference when observers operated in reactive (vs. proactive) control mode. Moreover, the interaction between reward expectation and cognitive control strategy was modulated by the emotional strength of the negative distractors (mutilation images vs. angry faces). Thus, reward incentive leads to more effective filtering of negative (emotional) distractors when these occur rarely (reactive control) rather than frequently (proactive control), especially with emotionally strong negative distractors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
奖励预期通过改善认知控制来减少与任务无关的情绪干扰物的干扰。本研究调查了奖励预期对消极干扰物的主动和被动认知控制的影响。奖励预期（激励与非激励试验）通过预提示进行操纵，预提示表明在给定试验中快速准确反应有机会获得额外的货币奖励，然后在试验显示中，在周边呈现与反应相关的目标刺激物，在中心呈现无关的、消极的或中性的干扰物。消极干扰物的出现频率（高与低）被操纵以诱导主动或被动控制模式（被试间因素）。在实验 1（1A 和 1B）和实验 2 中，分别使用残缺图像和愤怒面孔作为消极干扰物。结果表明，奖励预期通常会促进表现，而消极（而非中性）干扰物会损害表现。重要的是，当观察者在被动（而非主动）控制模式下操作时，奖励预期会减少消极干扰物的干扰。此外，奖励预期与认知控制策略之间的相互作用受到消极干扰物（残缺图像与愤怒面孔）的情绪强度的调节。因此，当消极（情绪）干扰物很少出现（被动控制）而不是频繁出现（主动控制）时，奖励激励会导致更有效的过滤，尤其是在存在情绪强烈的消极干扰物时。
