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Comparing effects of reward and punishment motivational contexts on cognitive control and downstream memory

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Kimberly S. Chiew¹ (), Rachel E. Brough¹, Sloan E. I. Ferron², Alyssa J. Asmar¹, Lucas Lattanzio³, Isabelle Buard³; ¹University of Denver, ²Pennsylvania State University, ³University of Colorado-Anschutz

Reward and punishment motivation both promote cognitive performance and memory formation, but may do so by separable neuromodulatory systems leading to distinct profiles of cognitive effort and memory representations. Specifically, reward motivation has been linked to ventral tegmental area (VTA)/dopaminergic activity while punishment has been linked to locus coeruleus (LC)/norepinephrine activity, with both neuromodulator pathways altering activity in cortical regions key to cognition. Reward has been suggested to enhance memory both through enhanced attention at encoding as well as via post-encoding consolidation, but the extent to which reward-motivated memory is predicted by task engagement at encoding is unclear. Further, little is known about how attention at encoding, vs. post-encoding processes, might contribute to punishment-motivated memory. To compare motivated cognitive control performance and downstream memory under reward and punishment contexts, we conducted an fMRI study examining reward- vs. punishment-motivated performance in a face-word Stroop paradigm (valence between-groups; N=48 young adults each), and tested the extent to which motivational context and task performance at encoding predicted incidental 24-hour memory for face stimuli from the Stroop paradigm. Preliminary behavioral data indicate expected conflict effects as well as distinct effects of reward and punishment on Stroop performance, whereby incentive-related speeding was greater under reward. Planned analyses will examine trial-level item and source memory as a function of motivational context, task conflict, and Stroop performance, as well as examining the extent to which reward vs. punishment-motivated performance are linked with activity in neuromodulatory nuclei and in prefrontal/hippocampal regions critical for cognitive control and memory encoding.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Emotion-cognition interactions