The influence of positive affect and reward on processes of cognitive control

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Gesine Dreisbach
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 260319437

In the last decades, increasing evidence suggests that mild positive affect qualitatively modulates processes of cognitive control. According to the neuropsychological theory of positive affect (Ashby, Isen & Turken, 1999; Ashby, Valentin & Turken, 2002), increased dopaminergic underlies these observed positive affect effects (see also Dreisbach & Goschke, 2004; Dreisbach et al., 2005). Since dopamine is also closely related to (especially unexpected) reward (e.g. Schulz, 1997) and since reward typically goes along with positive affect, differences between manipulations of positive affect versus reward have been widely neglected in the literature (see Chiew & Braver, 2011; Dreisbach & Fischer, 2012). In the proposed project we aim to investigate directly the differential effects of positive affect with (performance contingent and non-contingent random) reward on processes of cognitive control within integrative research designs. This research aims at providing significant contributions to the timely discussion on the interplay of motivational and emotional influences on cognitive control.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants