Abstract
Apart from everyday duties, such as doing the laundry or cleaning the house, there are tasks we do for pleasure and enjoyment. We do such tasks, like solving crossword puzzles or reading novels, without any external pressure or force; instead, we are intrinsically motivated: we do the tasks because we enjoy doing them. Previous studies suggest that external rewards, i.e., rewards from the outside, affect the intrinsic motivation to engage in a task: while performance-based monetary rewards are perceived as controlling and induce a business-contract framing, verbal rewards praising one's competence can enhance the perceived self-determination. Accordingly, the former have been shown to decrease intrinsic motivation, whereas the latter have been shown to increase intrinsic motivation. The present study investigated the neural processes underlying the effects of monetary and verbal rewards on intrinsic motivation in a group of 64 subjects applying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We found that, when participants received positive performance feedback, activation in the anterior striatum and midbrain was affected by the nature of the reward; compared to a non-rewarded control group, activation was higher while monetary rewards were administered. However, we did not find a decrease in activation after reward withdrawal. In contrast, we found an increase in activation for verbal rewards: after verbal rewards had been withdrawn, participants showed a higher activation in the aforementioned brain areas when they received success compared to failure feedback. We further found that, while participants worked on the task, activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex was enhanced after the verbal rewards were administered and withdrawn.
Highlights
In many fields, such as education and the workplace, tangible incentives are used to motivate individuals to learn or to work
We start with comparing the monetary reward group with the control group in periods 2 and 3: in line with Murayama et al (2010), we found a higher activation in the anterior striatum and midbrain while monetary rewards were administered
THE CROWDING-IN EFFECT OF VERBAL REWARDS We found an effect of verbal rewards on brain activation: activation in the anterior striatum and midbrain was higher after the administration of verbal rewards than in the control group
Summary
In many fields, such as education and the workplace, tangible incentives are used to motivate individuals to learn or to work. The studies further showed that verbal reinforcement can have the opposite effect on participants’ engagement in a task: when participants received supportive verbal feedback praising their competence, engagement in the task increased after reward withdrawal. In their Cognitive Evaluation Theory (CET), Deci and Ryan (1985) explain these findings as follows: CET asserts that two psychological needs underlie intrinsic motivation; the need for self-determination and the need for competence. Whether a reward has a positive or negative effect on these needs depends on its nature: if the reward is perceived as controlling one’s behavior (such as monetary rewards), it reduces perceived self-determination, leads to a more external perceived locus of causality and decreases intrinsic motivation. On the other hand, the reward is informational and perceived as indicating one’s competence
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