Motivation–cognition interaction: how feedback processing changes in healthy ageing and in Parkinson’s disease

• Published in: Aging clinical and experimental research 2015-12, Vol.27 (6), p.911-920
• Main Authors: Di Rosa, Elisa, Schiff, Sami, Cagnolati, Francesca, Mapelli, Daniela
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging - physiology; Aging - psychology; Biofeedback, Psychology; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - physiology; Diffusion models; Feedback; Female; Geriatrics/Gerontology; Humans; Hypotheses; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Motivation; Motivation - physiology; Older people; Original Article; Parkinson Disease - physiopathology; Parkinson Disease - psychology; Parkinson's disease; Reaction Time - physiology; Reward; Task Performance and Analysis
• ISSN: 1720-8319; 1594-0667; 1720-8319
• DOI: 10.1007/s40520-015-0358-8

Background Several studies have investigated the interaction between motivation and cognition in both young and older adults, but with inconsistent results. A recent hypothesis suggests exploring the role of dopamine to study this interaction. Aims To explore how different motivational states can modulate cognitive control, as well as investigate the hypothesis of a dopaminergic role in this phenomenon. Methods 27 young subjects, 15 healthy old subjects, and 15 Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients took part in this study. The motivational Simon task—a new paradigm in which rewards and punishments are delivered to promote fast and accurate responses—was employed. The participants’ performance was evaluated by analysing their reaction times and accuracy, while employing a diffusion model analysis. Results The employment of positive and negative feedback significantly modulated performance in a conflict task. In both, the young and older participants, the speed–accuracy trade-off significantly changed in response to different motivational incentives ( p