Incentive motivation improves numerosity discrimination: Insights from pupillometry combined with drift-diffusion modelling.

ABSTRACT: Recent studies show that training the approximate number system (ANS) holds promise for improving symbolic math abilities. Extending this line of research, the present study aims to shed light on incentive motivation of numerosity discrimination and the underlying mechanisms. Thirty-two young adults performed a novel incentivized dot comparison task, that we developed, to discern the larger of two numerosities. An EZ-diffusion model was applied to decompose motivational effects on component processes of perceptual decision-making. Furthermore, phasic pupil dilation served as an indicator of the involvement of the salience network. The results of improved accuracy and a higher information accumulation rate under the reward condition suggest that incentive motivation boosts the precision of

SUBMITTER: Dix A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7018719 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature