奖惩线索对停止信号任务中抑制能力和心率、皮肤电的影响

采用不同类型强化刺激(中性刺激,奖励刺激,惩罚刺激,以及奖励、惩罚刺激并存)来改变可获得奖励和惩罚的强度和频度,分别考察不同类型强化条件对停止信号任务中抑制能力、心率和皮肤电的影响.结果显示:与奖惩混合条件相比,在奖励条件下,被试的反应速度快,但正确抑制率明显低于惩罚条件和奖惩混合条件;在奖励条件下,被试在任务完成过程中的心率明显高于反馈条件、惩罚条件和奖惩混合条件.四种条件下被试的皮肤电活动无差异.     

奖惩对行为抑制能力和自主生理活动影响的时效性

将45名被试随机分配为奖励组、惩罚组和对照组, 实验进程按时间发展过程被分为五阶段, 采用停止信号任务探讨奖惩刺激对行为抑制能力和自主生理活动影响的时效性。结果显示：奖惩刺激对行为反应时和抑制失败率影响仅在第二、三阶段差异显著, 对心率影响的显著差异在第三阶段结束、而对皮电和指温影响的显著差异仍持续到第五阶段。结果表明：奖惩刺激对行为的抑制作用具有时效性, 有效时间内表现为仅奖励能提高行为抑制能力; 奖惩刺激对心率的影响具有时效性, 但对其它生理指标的影响则未显示出时效性。     

阈下奖励调节认知控制的权衡

本研究采用奖励版的AX-CPT任务, 通过控制奖励线索和反馈的呈现方式, 设置出基线、阈上奖励、阈下奖励三种条件, 考察习得的奖励联结和奖励动机能否以潜意识的方式影响认知任务的表现和认知控制的权衡。结果显示：奖励线索只在阈上呈现时提高AX序列的任务表现; 与基线条件相比, 阈上和阈下奖励条件下认知控制的权衡均偏向主动性控制, 且这种偏向在两者间无显著差异。这表明习得的阈下奖励线索可以调节认知控制的权衡, 使被试像阈上奖励时那样偏向主动性控制。     

金钱刺激和决策者角色对个体道德决策的影响——基于过程分离范式

以大学生为被试,采用3（金钱刺激：无金钱刺激、金钱奖励、金钱惩罚）×2（决策者角色：决策者、旁观者）的被试间实验设计,利用过程分离范式分别计算被试道德决策中的功利主义倾向和道义论倾向,从而探讨金钱刺激和决策者角色对个体道德决策的影响。结果发现：（1）无论是决策者还是旁观者,金钱刺激都不会影响其道义论倾向;（2）决策者的道义论倾向大于旁观者;（3）只在有金钱奖励时决策者的功利主义倾向才大于旁观者。     

奖励影响注意选择的认知加工机制

奖励不仅能够塑造行为, 也能影响个体的内部心理过程。在注意选择过程中, 与奖励联结的刺激能够吸引注意资源。当目标刺激与奖励联结时, 能够易化注意选择过程; 当分心刺激与奖励联结时, 能够阻碍注意选择过程。可见, 奖励从不同角度对注意选择产生影响。奖励对注意选择的影响可能有其特有的认知机制, 并且奖励对注意的捕获效应受到许多因素的调节, 如奖励预测、工作记忆容量、人格特质及刺激的新异性。未来的研究应该尝试将奖励影响注意选择的研究成果应用于不良注意偏向临床干预的实践领域。     

性别配对与奖励结构对中学生合作行为的影响

目的:研究不同性别配对与奖励结构对中学生合作行为产生怎样的影响。方法:选择夹豆速度相同的初二学生为研究对象,在不同的性别配对和奖励结构下进行夹豆实验,考察性别配对与奖励结构对中学生合作行为。结果:性别配对对中学生合作行为有显著影响,其中男×男配对组合的合作水平最高,而女×女配对组合的合作水平最低,男×女配对水平居中;另外,针对不同的奖励对象进行实验同样也产生不同的合作水平,奖励个人合作水平较低,奖励组合合作水平较高;在奖励对象为组合时采用不同的计分方式对合作行为也有显著的影响,分别计分合作水平较低,混合计分合作水平较高。结论:应根据初中生的这些特点进行有针对性地引导,促进他们合理的合作和竞争。     

奖励和惩罚在注意控制过程中的优化和分离：眼动研究

通过两个眼动实验考察金钱奖励和惩罚引起的动机对个体在不同空间线索条件下注意控制加工的影响。实验1采用朝向/反向眼跳范式, 被试通过内源性线索提供心理准备的情况下做出简单的朝向眼跳以及需要抑制优势反应的反向眼跳。结果发现, 相比无奖惩条件, 奖励条件下朝向眼跳任务的正确率更高, 惩罚条件下反向眼跳任务的正确率更高; 两种眼跳任务中有奖惩条件下的眼跳峰速度均比无奖惩条件高。实验2采用Go/No-go任务, 进一步探讨了由副中央凹加工外源性边缘线索从而不能提供充分心理准备的情况下奖励和惩罚对注意控制的影响。结果发现, 奖励条件下Go反应的眼跳潜伏期更短, 惩罚条件下No-go反应正确率更高, 眼跳峰速度在两种条件下均比无奖惩条件高。以上结果表明, 奖励和惩罚均能够促进个体的注意控制, 但二者的加工过程是分离的, 奖励能够改善趋近行为, 惩罚则能够显著促进抑制控制行为, 且奖励和惩罚在注意控制加工过程中具有不同的作用模式, 奖励能够更早唤醒注意控制系统从而更快地促进行为的发生与执行, 惩罚则能够通过调节注意资源促进以目标为导向的行为中对优势反应的抑制。     

奖励对创造力的影响及其机制

在奖励对创造力的影响的问题上, 相关研究一直存在很大争议。在系统分析以往研究的基础上, 认为奖励既可以促进创造力也可以阻碍创造力, 这取决于对奖励的界定及对创造力的理解, 也受个体差异和外部环境因素的影响。在作用途径上, 奖励可以通过动机或认知因素以及它们的综合作用对创造力产生影响。研究在此基础上构建出一个综合了奖励和创造力及其影响因素的模型。     

成功和失败对儿童分享行为的影响

本实验通过成功和失败与应得奖品的程度双因素实验设计研究成败和应得奖励的明显程度对儿童分享行为的影响。结果表明:成败是影响儿童分享行为的一个重要因素;在应得奖励明显程度高的条件下,失败引起的分享行为水平高于成功引起的分享行为,而在应得奖励明显程度中和低的条件下,成败对儿童分享行为的影响不显著,但对城市五年级儿童的分享行为有显著的影响;城乡儿童的分享行为存在着显著差异。     

公共物品困境中的突显身份效应及合作动机对合作行为影响

从合作动机的激发与破坏的角度探讨公共物品困境中突显身份对合作行为的影响,同时考察社会价值取向与突显身份之间的关系。结果表明：突显合作者与突显不合作者两种方式都会提高被试的合作水平;两种突显方式的作用机制不同。突显合作者条件下,被试的合作行为受内在动机和外在动机的共同影响。而突显不合作者则会破坏被试合作的内在动机,外在动机对提高合作行为起主要作用;突显合作者条件下,合作取向的被试更多受内在动机的影响,而非合作取向的被试则更多受外在动机的影响。在突显不合作者的条件下,合作取向和非合作取向被试的合作行为都受外在动机的影响较大。     

High temporal discounters overvalue immediate rewards rather than undervalue future rewards: An event-related brain potential study

Impulsivity is characterized in part by heightened sensitivity to immediate relative to future rewards. Although previous research has suggested that “high discounters” in intertemporal choice tasks tend to prefer immediate over future rewards because they devalue the latter, it remains possible that they instead overvalue immediate rewards. To investigate this question, we recorded the reward positivity, a component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) associated with reward processing, with participants engaged in a task in which they received both immediate and future rewards and nonrewards. The participants also completed a temporal discounting task without ERP recording. We found that immediate but not future rewards elicited the reward positivity. High discounters also produced larger reward positivities to immediate rewards than did low discounters, indicating that high discounters relatively overvalued immediate rewards. These findings suggest that high discounters may be more motivated than low discounters to work for monetary rewards, irrespective of the time of arrival of the incentives.     

Use of the maximal-operant principle to motivate children's intrinsic interest

The present research examined the hypothesis that in contrast to theory and research indicating that tangible reward decreases subsequent interest in enjoyable academic activities, rewards are perceived by adults as effective techniques to maximize long- and short-term subsequent interest for academic tasks of both high and low initial interest level. The results of our first three studies demonstrated that college students and parents view tangible reward as more effective than other less controlling techniques to enhance intrinsic motivation and value rewards more for intrinsically interesting academic behaviors in comparison with others (e.g., prosocial behaviors). Our fourth study supported the hypothesis that adults do not subscribe to the minimal-sufficiency analysis of increasing intrinsic motivation but prefer a maximal-operant principle in which the likelihood of producing long-term interest in academic tasks is assumed to vary positively with the size of a reward. Our fifth and sixth studies investigated illusory correlation as one mechanism that may perpetuate beliefs about the assumed positive relation between tangible reward and intrinsic interest in academic tasks.     

Attracting new customers to loyalty programs: The effectiveness of monetary versus nonmonetary loyalty programs

What type of reward attracts customers to loyalty programs? Given the increasing importance of loyalty programs, this question matters. Six sequential studies investigated whether monetary rewards universally attract people more than nonmonetary rewards. Results suggest that monetary rewards elicit a very robust attractiveness premium both on the level of individual rewards as well as on the level of entire reward programs. Across different industries, the more monetary loyalty program was consistently perceived as more attractive, and it was more likely to inspire intentions to join the program. Even in light of variations in consumption goals (hedonic vs. utilitarian), the effect persisted. The effect is not only consistent; it is also nonnegligible with medium effect sizes emerging in most settings. We discuss ensuing variations in effect sizes and conclude that monetarism holds a pervasive temptation for consumers that managers cannot ignore.     

DISCOUNTING OF DELAYED FOOD REWARDS IN PIGEONS AND RATS: IS THERE A MAGNITUDE EFFECT?

Temporal discounting refers to the decrease in the present, subjective value of a reward as the time to its receipt increases. Results from humans have shown that a hyperbola-like function describes the form of the discounting function when choices involve hypothetical monetary rewards. In addition, magnitude effects have been reported in which smaller reward amounts are discounted more steeply than larger amounts. The present research examines the cross-species generality of these findings using real rewards, namely food pellets, with both pigeons and rats. As with humans, an adjusting amount procedure was used to estimate the amount of immediate reward judged equal in value to a delayed reward. Different amounts of delayed food rewards (ranging from 5 to 32 pellets in pigeons and from 5 to 20 pellets in rats) were studied at delays varying from 1 s to 32 s. A simple hyperbola, similar to the hyperbola-like mathematical function that describes the discounting of hypothetical monetary rewards in humans, described the discounting of food rewards in both pigeons and rats. These results extend the generality of the mathematical model of discounting. Rates of discounting delayed food rewards were higher for pigeons than for rats. Unlike humans, however, neither pigeons nor rats showed a reliable magnitude effect: Rate of discounting did not vary systematically as a function of the amount of the delayed reward.     

Foregoing the labor for the fruits: The effect of just world threat on the desire for immediate monetary rewards

Previous theorizing and research suggest that the need to believe in a just world develops when children begin to understand the benefits of foregoing their immediate gratifications for more desirable, long-term outcomes. Drawing on this previous work, we propose that an extant just world threat may induce a desire for smaller, immediate rewards at the expense of larger, delayed rewards. Participants were exposed to the suffering of an innocent or non-innocent victim and then, in a different context, completed a temporal discounting task that assessed, across six time delays, their preferences for smaller, immediate monetary rewards versus a constant, larger, delayed reward. Consistent with our reasoning, participants exposed to the suffering of an innocent versus non-innocent victim more steeply discounted the value of the delayed reward—that is, they were willing to accept smaller immediate rewards in place of the larger, delayed reward. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Unconscious reward cues increase invested effort,but do not change speed–accuracy tradeoffs

While both conscious and unconscious reward cues enhance effort to work on a task, previous research also suggests that conscious rewards may additionally affect speed–accuracy tradeoffs. Based on this idea, two experiments explored whether reward cues that are presented above (supraliminal) or below (subliminal) the threshold of conscious awareness affect such tradeoffs differently. In a speed–accuracy paradigm, participants had to solve an arithmetic problem to attain a supraliminally or subliminally presented high-value or low-value coin. Subliminal high (vs. low) rewards made participants more eager (i.e., faster, but equally accurate). In contrast, supraliminal high (vs. low) rewards caused participants to become more cautious (i.e., slower, but more accurate). However, the effects of supraliminal rewards mimicked those of subliminal rewards when the tendency to make speed–accuracy tradeoffs was reduced. These findings suggest that reward cues initially boost effort regardless of whether or not people are aware of them, but affect speed–accuracy tradeoffs only when the reward information is accessible to consciousness.     

Are people really more patient than other animals? Evidence from human discounting of real liquid rewards

In previous studies, researchers have found that humans discount delayed rewards orders of magnitude less steeply than do other animals. Humans also discount smaller delayed reward amounts more steeply than larger amounts, whereas animals apparently do not. These differences between humans and animals might reflect differences in the types of rewards studied and/or the fact that animals actually had to wait for their rewards. In the present article, we report the results of three experiments in which people made choices involving liquid rewards delivered and consumed after actual delays, thereby bridging the gap between animal and human studies. Under these circumstances, humans, like animals, discounted the value of rewards delayed by seconds; however, unlike animals, they still showed an effect of reward amount. Human discounting was well described by the same hyperboloid function that has previously been shown to describe animal discounting of delayed food and water rewards, as well as human discounting of real and hypothetical monetary rewards.     

Women seek more variety in rewards when closer to ovulation

We propose that women's increased generalized sensitivity to rewards during the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle causes them to seek more variety in rewards when they are in the fertile phase than when they are not in the fertile phase of the cycle. In Studies 1–3, across the reward domains of mating and hedonic food, we show that women seek more variety in rewards when closer to ovulation. Moreover, we provide support for the proposition that women's increased reward sensitivity during the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle causes their greater variety seeking. Specifically, in Study 3, we show that fertile women's greater variety seeking does not extend to non-rewards, such as non-hedonic food. Our findings suggest that behavioral effects of women's hormonal shifts during the menstrual cycle are not limited to the mating domain and may extend to a wide category of reward domains.     

Eating for pleasure or profit: the effect of incentives on children's enjoyment of vegetables

Parents commonly use rewards to encourage children to eat healthfully, but this practice remains controversial because rewards are suspected of undermining children's intrinsic motivation. A cluster-randomized trial examined children's acceptance of a disliked vegetable over 12 daily taste exposures. These exposures were paired with a tangible reward, a social reward, or no reward, and the findings were compared with the results from a no-treatment control condition. Liking and intake of the vegetable were assessed in a free-choice consumption task at preintervention, postintervention, 1 month after intervention, and 3 months after intervention. Liking increased more in the three intervention conditions than in the control condition, and there were no significant differences between the intervention conditions. These effects were maintained at follow-up. Children in both reward conditions increased consumption, and these effects were maintained for 3 months; however, the effects of exposure with no reward became nonsignificant by 3 months. These results indicate that external rewards do not necessarily produce negative effects and may be useful in promoting healthful eating.     

Information about foregone rewards impedes dynamic decision-making in older adults

“Making an informed decision” implies that more information leads to better decisions, yet it may be the case that additional information biases decisions in a systematic and sometimes detrimental manner. In the present study, we examined the effect of additional information on older adults’ decision-making using a task for which available rewards were dependent on the participant’s recent pattern of choices. The optimal strategy was to forego the immediately rewarding option in favor of the option that yielded larger delayed reward. We found that providing information about true foregone rewards – the reward that would have been received had the participant chosen the other option – significantly reduced older adults’ decision-making performance. However, false foregone rewards – foregone rewards manufactured to make the long-term option appear more immediately rewarding – led older adults to perform at a level equal to younger adults. We conclude that providing information about foregone rewards biases older adults toward immediate rewards at a greater rate than younger adults, leading to poorer older adult performance when immediate rewards and long-term rewards conflict, but intact performance when immediate rewards and long-term rewards appear to align.