Reward priming differentially modulates enhancement and inhibition in auditory decision-making

Abstract

In cognitive sciences, rewards, such as money and food, play a fundamental role in individuals daily lives and well-being. Moreover, rewards that are irrelevant to the task alter individuals behavior. However, it is unclear whether explicit knowledge of reward irrelevancy has an impact on reward priming enhancements and inhibition. In this study, an auditory change-detection task with task-irrelevant rewards was introduced. The participants were informed explicitly in advance that the rewards would be given randomly. The results revealed that while inhibition related to reward priming only occurred when the participants were explicitly informed about rewards, implicit instruction thereof resulted in enhancement and inhibition associated with reward priming. These findings highlight the contribution of explicit information about rewards associated with auditory decisions.