Brief Report
The effect of motivation on working memory: An fMRI and SEM study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2008.06.001Get rights and content

Abstract

This study investigated the effective connectivity between prefrontal regions of human brain supporting motivational influence on working memory. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to examine the interaction between the lateral orbitofrontal (OFC), medial OFC, and dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) regions in the left and right hemisphere during performance of the verbal 2-back working memory task under two reinforcement conditions. The “low-motivation” condition was not associated with monetary reinforcement, while the “high-motivation” condition involved the probability of winning a certain amount of money. In the “low-motivation” condition, the OFC regions in both hemispheres positively influenced the left DLPFC activity. In the “high-motivation” condition, the connectivity in the network including the right OFC regions and left DLPFC changed from positive to negative, whereas the positive connectivity in the network composed of the left OFC and left DLPFC became slightly enhanced compared with the “low-motivation” condition. However, only the connection between the right lateral OFC and left DLPFC showed a significant condition-dependent change in the strength of influence conveyed through the pathway. This change appears to be the functional correlate of motivational influence on verbal working memory.

References (28)

  • S.T. Carmichael et al.

    Connectional networks within the orbital and medial prefrontal cortex of macaque monkeys

    The Journal of Comparative Neurology

    (1996)
  • C. Cavada et al.

    The anatomical connections of the macaque monkey orbitofrontal cortex. A review

    Cerebral Cortex

    (2000)
  • T. Chaminade et al.

    Changes of effective connectivity between the lateral and medial parts of the prefrontal cortex during a visual task

    European Journal of Neuroscience

    (2003)
  • R. Elliott et al.

    Differential response patterns in the striatum and orbitofrontal cortex to financial reward in humans: a parametric functional magnetic resonance imaging study

    Journal of Neuroscience

    (2003)
  • Cited by (0)

    This work was supported by Grant 2 P05B 060 27 from the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research.

    View full text