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.

Keywords: cognitive control; control network; frontoparietal; reward.

Figure 1

Whole‐brain ALE meta‐analytic results (p < .05 FWE corrected) showing brain regions that are consistently recruited across studies (N = 16) of motivated cognitive control. These results indicate that regions associated with the frontoparietal control network (IFS and IPS/aIPL) and regions associated with the salience network (insula and aMCC/pre‐SMA) show greater activation during cognitive control tasks on trials in which a reward incentive can be earned based on performance, versus trials in which no incentive is presented. Numbers denote z‐coordinates in MNI space. IFS, inferior frontal sulcus; IPS/aIPL, intraparietal sulcus/anterior inferior parietal lobule; aMCC/pre‐SMA, anterior mid‐cingulate cortex/pre‐supplementary motor area [Color figure can be viewed at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Figure 2

Rendered surface display of Neurosynth forward inference meta‐analyses using the terms “cognitive control” and “incentive,” corrected for multiple comparisons using a false discovery rate of q = .01. While a broad network of regions is consistently activated in studies of cognitive control, only a subset of these regions are also recruited in studies of incentive processing, and may play a role in motivated cognitive control. This finding corroborates the ALE analysis, but also reveals a number of additional regions in the left hemisphere and subcortical structures. IFS, inferior frontal sulcus; IFJ, inferior frontal junction; PMC, premotor cortex; IPS, intraparietal sulcus; DLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; aMCC/pre‐SMA, anterior mid‐cingulate cortex/pre‐supplementary motor area; NAcc, nucleus accumbens [Color figure can be viewed at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com]

Figure 3

Significant ALE meta‐analytic clusters associated with different trial periods during motivated cognitive control tasks (p < .001 uncorrected). The warm colors demonstrate regions that are consistently recruited during the cue period of motivated cognitive control tasks and may contribute to proactive control functions, whereas the cool colors demonstrate regions that are consistently recruited during the target (response) period of motivated cognitive control tasks and may contribute to reactive control functions. IPS/aIPL, intraparietal sulcus/anterior inferior parietal lobule; vIPS, ventral intraparietal sulcus; dPCC, dorsal posterior cingulate cortex; aMCC, anterior mid‐cingulate cortex; IFJ, inferior frontal junction; PMC, pre‐motor cortex [Color figure can be viewed at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com]