A reward effect on memory retention, consolidation, and generalization?
- 1Max Planck Research Group: Adaptive Memory, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- 2International Max Planck Research School NeuroCom, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- 3Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
- 4Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
- Corresponding authors: heidrun.schultz{at}cbs.mpg.de, roland.benoit{at}colorado.edu
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↵5 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract
Reward improves memory through both encoding and consolidation processes. In this preregistered study, we tested whether reward effects on memory generalize from high-rewarded items to low-rewarded but episodically related items. Fifty-nine human volunteers incidentally encoded associations between unique objects and repeated scenes. Some scenes typically yielded high reward, whereas others typically yielded low reward. Memory was tested immediately after encoding (n = 29) or the next day (n = 30). Overall, reward had only a limited influence on memory. It did not enhance consolidation and its effect did not generalize to episodically related stimuli. We thus contribute to understanding the boundary conditions of reward effects on memory.
Footnotes
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[Supplemental material is available for this article.]
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Article is online at http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.053842.123.
- Received June 26, 2023.
- Accepted August 9, 2023.
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