Goal orientation shifts attentional focus and impairs reward-motivated memory.

Lena J Skalaban, Allison L Neeson, Troy M Houser, Sarah DuBrow, Lila Davachi, Vishnu P Murty

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

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0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Lena J SkalabanDepartment of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, USA skalaban@uoregon.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6851-3836

Allison L NeesonChildren's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4969-2610

Troy M HouserDepartment of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA.

Sarah DuBrowDepartment of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6962-6402

Lila DavachiDepartment of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4317-0889

Vishnu P MurtyDepartment of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1360-3156

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

While motivation typically enhances memory, some studies show that, in certain contexts, motivation associated with rewards can impair memory. Goal states associated with motivation can impact attention, which in turn influences what information is encoded and later remembered. There is limited research on how different incentive contexts, which manipulate attentional orientation to memoranda, lead to either reward-motivated memory enhancements or impairments in item and relational memory. Here, we test how different reward-motivated states may narrow or broaden attention with downstream consequences on memoranda. In study 1, giving participants a rewarded timed goal during visual search impaired both their item and relational memory relative to un-timed participants who were simply told that they would be rewarded for searching regardless of speed (despite having equated time). In study 2, we show that giving participants an elaborative goal

Indexed as

AttentionGoalsMemoryMotivationOrientationRewardAdolescentAdultFemaleHumansMaleYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID39965806

DOI10.1101/lm.054020.124

PMCPMC11852911

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LicenceCC BY-NC

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.