title: Neural signature of reward-modulated unconscious inhibitory control.
abstract: Consciously initiated cognitive control is generally determined by motivational incentives (e.g., monetary reward). Recent studies have revealed that human cognitive control processes can nevertheless operate without awareness. However, whether monetary reward can impinge on unconscious cognitive control remains unclear. To clarify this issue, a task consisting of several runs was designed to combine a modified version of the reward-priming paradigm with an unconscious version of the Go/No-Go task. At the beginning of each run, participants were exposed to a high- or low-value coin, followed by the modified Go/No-Go task. Participants could earn the coin only if they responded correctly to each trial of the run. Event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that high-value rewards (vs. low-value rewards) induced a greater centro-parietal P3 component associated with conscious and unconscious inhibitory control. Moreover, the P3 amplitude correlated positively with the magnitude of reaction time slowing reflecting the intensity of activation of unconscious inhibitory control in the brain. These findings suggest that high-value reward may facilitate human higher-order inhibitory processes that are independent of conscious awareness, which provides insights into the brain processes that underpin motivational modulation of cognitive control.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China; Center for Mental Health Research, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Liuting
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Diao
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Modern Teaching Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Senqing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China; Center for Mental Health Research, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Mengsi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, MOE & STCSM, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhiai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: University of Missouri, St. Louis, USA.
authors.forename: Cody
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Antao
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China; Center for Mental Health Research, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China; Center for Mental Health Research, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. Electronic address: yangd@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012201:Reward; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Conscious; Event-related potential; Inhibitory control; Reward; Unconscious