Selective effects of prior motivational experience on current on-line control of attention

This study examined the influence of prior motivational experience on the efficiency of executive attention control during performance of a task set reconfiguration task (Rogers & Monsell, 1995). Results revealed that motivation manipulations selectively affected attention switching mechanisms, but did not influence either inhibition of crosstalk from competing stimuli, or basic response execution time. This provides additional evidence for distinct attentional systems involved in resolution of response and perceptual competition. Speculations regarding the neural systems that mediate both motivation and attention switching are considered, pointing to a possible involvement of dopaminergic influences on the ventral striatum.