Choking on the money: reward-based performance decrements are associated with midbrain activity.
A pernicious paradox in human motivation is the occasional reduced performance associated with tasks and situations that involve larger-than-average rewards. Three broad explanations that might account for such performance decrements are attentional competition (distraction theories), inhibition by conscious processes (explicit-monitoring theories), and excessive drive and arousal (overmotivation theories). Here, we report incentive-dependent performance decrements in humans in a reward-pursuit task; subjects were less successful in capturing a more valuable reward in a computerized maze. Concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that increased activity in ventral midbrain, a brain area associated with incentive motivation and basic reward responding, correlated with both reduced number of captures and increased number of near-misses associated with imminent high rewards. These data cast light on the neurobiological basis of choking under pressure and are consistent with overmotivation accounts.
Mobbs
Dean
D
Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Functional Imaging Laboratory, University College London, UK. dean.mobbs@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
Hassabis
Demis
D
Seymour
Ben
B
Marchant
Jennifer L
JL
Weiskopf
Nikolaus
N
Dolan
Raymond J
RJ
Frith
Christopher D
CD
D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007206:Individuality; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000502:physiology*; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012201:Reward; D018910:Video Games; D055815:Young Adult
D010100:Oxygen