Choking on the Money: Reward-Based Performance Decrements Are Associated With Midbrain Activity |
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Authors: | Dean Mobbs Demis Hassabis Ben Seymour Jennifer L. Marchant Nikolaus Weiskopf Raymond J. Dolan Christopher D. Frith |
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Affiliation: | Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Functional Imaging Laboratory, University College London;;MRC-Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom;and;Centre for Functional Integrative Neuroscience, Åarhus University Hospital, Åarhus, Denmark |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACT— 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. |
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