The neural basis of motivational influences on cognitive control

Abstract

Cognitive control mechanisms support the deliberate regulation of thought and behavior based on current goals. Recent work suggests that motivational incentives improve cognitive control and has begun to elucidate critical neural substrates. We conducted a quantitative meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of motivated cognitive control using activation likelihood estimation (ALE) and Neurosynth to delineate the brain regions that are consistently activated across studies. The analysis included studies that investigated changes in brain activation during cognitive control tasks when reward incentives were present versus absent. The ALE analysis revealed consistent recruitment in regions associated with the frontoparietal control network including the inferior frontal sulcus and intraparietal sulcus, as well as regions associated with the salience network including the anterior insula and anterior mid-cingulate cortex. As a complementary analysis, we performed a large-scale exploratory meta-analysis using Neurosynth to identify regions that are recruited in studies using of the terms cognitive control and incentive. This analysis replicated the ALE results and also identified the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex, caudate nucleus, nucleus accumbens, medial thalamus, inferior frontal junction, premotor cortex, and hippocampus. Finally, we separately compared recruitment during cue and target periods, which tap into proactive engagement of rule-outcome associations, and the mobilization of appropriate viscero-motor states to execute a response, respectively. We found that largely distinct sets of brain regions are recruited during cue and target periods. Altogether, these findings suggest that flexible interactions between frontoparietal, salience, and dopaminergic midbrain-striatal networks may allow control demands to be precisely tailored based on expected value.

Cognitive-motivational interactions: Beyond boxes-and-arrows models of the mind-brain.

“…For instance, based on a meta-analysis of neuroimaging data, Parro, Dixon, and Christoff (2017) suggested that four networks interact during cognitive-motivational exchanges (Figure 8A): a frontoparietal control network, a sensory valuation network, an interoception/salience network, and a dopaminergic midbrain-striatal network. The scheme by Parro and colleagues thus proposes that large-scale communication is important during interactions between motivation and cognition.…”

“…It is also important for attentional processing more generally (Pessoa & Ungerleider, 2004). Dorsal-medial PFC is also reliably engaged during conditions involving reward manipulations (Parro, et al, 2017), as well as negative processing (Pessoa, 2013; Shackman et al, 2011). …”

“…Moreover, potential reward reliably engages the anterior insula (Hayes, Duncan, Xu, & Northoff, 2014; Parro, et al, 2017), which is also reliably recruited by long-term memory, working memory, task switching, attention, and many other cognitive processes (Van Snellenberg & Wager, 2010). Indeed, a recent analysis of the functional diversity of brain regions, the anterior insula emerged as one of the most diverse (Anderson, et al, 2013; see also Uddin, Kinnison, Pessoa, & Anderson, 2013).…”

“…(A) Scheme proposed by Parro et al (2017) to described the main networks involved and their interactions. (B) Abstract representation of interactions between “task” and “valuation” networks.…”

“…Note that the medial PFC (orange outlined) is proposed to be a hub at the interface between cognitive and valuation networks. Part A reproduced with permission from Parro et al (2017); part C reproduced with permission from Pessoa and Engelmann (2010).…”