通過兩個眼動實驗考察金錢獎勵和懲罰引起的動機對個體在不同空間線索條件下注意控制加工的影響。實驗1采用朝向/反向眼跳范式,被試通過內源性線索提供心理準備的情況下做出簡單的朝向眼跳以及需要抑制優勢反應的反向眼跳。結果發現,相比無獎懲條件,獎勵條件下朝向眼跳任務的正確率更高,懲罰條件下反向眼跳任務的正確率更高;兩種眼跳任務中有獎懲條件下的眼跳峰速度均比無獎懲條件高。實驗2采用Go/No-go任務,進一步探討了由副中央凹加工外源性邊緣線索從而不能提供充分心理準備的情況下獎勵和懲罰對注意控制的影響。結果發現,獎勵條件下Go反應的眼跳潛伏期更短,懲罰條件下No-go反應正確率更高,眼跳峰速度在兩種條件下均比無獎懲條件高。以上結果表明,獎勵和懲罰均能夠促進個體的注意控制,但二者的加工過程是分離的,獎勵能夠改善趨近行為,懲罰則能夠顯著促進抑制控制行為,且獎勵和懲罰在注意控制加工過程中具有不同的作用模式,獎勵能夠更早喚醒注意控制系統從而更快地促進行為的發生與執行,懲罰則能夠通過調節注意資源促進以目標為導向的行為中對優勢反應的抑制。

A wealth of research shows that positive and negative reinforcement critically influence behavior. While it is well established that rewards and penalties can strongly influence mechanisms of executive control, it is unclear whether these two factors exert symmetric or qualitatively distinct behavioral effects. In the current research, we conducted two eye-movement experiments to investigate the influence of monetary reward or punishment on attentional control. We employed these cues in Pro/Anti-saccade tasks in Experiment 1 and Go/No-go tasks in Experiment 2. Crucially, we investigated how either a reward(also referred to as "gain") or penalty(also referred to as "loss") influenced inhibitory control in the following trial. In Experiment 1, participants were instructed to produce simple pro-saccades or more difficult anti-saccades, in conditions in which they received a reward for correct responses or a punishment for incorrect responses or either a reward or punishment. The results showed that, while the accuracy of the pro-saccades was facilitated by reward, the accuracy of the anti-saccades was facilitated by punishment. And the velocity of pro-saccades and anti-saccades were significantly improved by both reward and punishment. In Experiment 2, we further adopted the Go/No-go tasks to explore how reward and punishment affect attentional control via exogenous parafoveal visual cues. This showed essentially the same pattern of effects as Experiment 1. For the Go task, saccade latency significantly decreased when rewards were given relative to punishment or no motivation conditions. And for the No-go task, accuracy increased more in the punishment condition compared to the reward or no motivation conditions. An increase in saccade velocity was observed in the no motivation condition, similarly to in Experiment 1. In sum, the overall results suggest that both reward and punishment can facilitate the oculomotor control, although the findings reveal a striking asymmetry in the effects of the reward and punishment on behavior. Specifically, positive reinforcement appears to improve approach behaviors, while punishment influences inhibitory behavior. These findings suggest that the two forms of reinforcement are distinct in their influence on behavior.