Kimberly Chiew

Chiew et al. Poster D18 Monday March 9 at 8am Reward and punishment motivation both promote cognitive performance and memory formation, but may do so by separable neuromodulatory systems leading to distinct profiles of cognitive effort and memory representations. Specifically, reward motivation has been linked to ventral tegmental area (VTA)/dopaminergic activity while punishment has been linked to locus coeruleus (LC)/norepinephrine activity, with both neuromodulator pathways altering activity in cortical regions key to cognition. Reward has been suggested to enhance memory both through enhanced attention at encoding as well as via post-encoding consolidation, but the extent to which reward-motivated memory is predicted by task engagement at encoding is unclear. Further, little is known about how attention at encoding, vs. post-encoding processes, might contribute to punishment-motivated memory. To compare motivated cognitive control performance and downstream memory under reward and punishment contexts, we conducted an fMRI study examining reward- vs. punishment-motivated performance in a face-word Stroop paradigm (valence between-groups; N=48 young adults each), and tested the extent to which motivational context and task performance at encoding predicted incidental 24-hour memory for face stimuli from the Stroop paradigm. Preliminary behavioral data indicate expected conflict effects as well as distinct effects of reward and punishment on Stroop performance, whereby incentive-related speeding was greater under reward. Planned analyses will examine trial-level item and source memory as a function of motivational context, task conflict, and Stroop performance, as well as examining the extent to which reward vs. punishment-motivated performance are linked with activity in neuromodulatory nuclei and in prefrontal/hippocampal regions critical for cognitive control and memory encoding.

I will be presenting "Comparing effects of reward and punishment motivational contexts on cognitive control and downstream memory" 🧠 at Poster D18 on Monday morning. It's been a long time since I've been to CNS, looking forward to it!

Baykal & Chiew - Poster B32 - Sunday March 8 8-10am Adjusting cognitive performance after an error might be a key facet of adaptive cognitive control. While post-error response slowing has been reliably characterized during cognitive task performance, post-error changes in accuracy have been more variable, with both increases and decreases observed. Motivational context might be a key element in whether post-error, cognitive effort and task accuracy increase, or whether both are reduced. To address this question, we propose a study where healthy young adults will complete a modified Flanker task with adaptive noise calibration (to ensure comparable error rates across individuals) under incentive and non-incentive conditions. Concurrent with task performance, we will collect eye-tracking data to examine pupil dilation (indexing cognitive effort) and gaze allocation (indexing attention) on a trial-level basis. Predictive modeling will allow us to test the extent to which, at the trial-by-trial level, pre-error behavior and physiological measures predict post-error performance recovery across motivational contexts. We will test the hypothesis that, on a trial-by-trial basis, stronger multimodal “ramp-up” signatures (increased post-error slowing, enhanced pupil dilation, and increased on-target gaze) will predict higher rates of adaptive recovery (post-error correct response) versus disengagement (post-error incorrect response). We further anticipate that incentives will amplify multimodal ramp-up, thereby increasing post-error adaptive recovery. We will also examine the extent to which individual differences in reward sensitivity, motivation, and emotion moderate these relationships. This approach will advance understanding of post-error adjustment and help clarify the contexts under which more or less adaptive adjustment of performance occurs, with important implications in applied domains.

We are excited to head to @cogneuronews.bsky.social #CNS2026 in Vancouver soon :) 🇨🇦🌊🏔️ My lab will be presenting two posters on Sunday & Monday. Graduate student Evrim Baykal will be presenting on "Adaptive recovery under motivation" 👁️ at Poster B32 on Sunday morning:

Diverging influences of punishment motivation and negative affect on cognitive control - Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience The modulation of cognitive control by threat of punishment has been under-characterized relative to examinations of reward, with mixed findings reported in the literature. Across two experiments, we ...

Journal link to final version: link.springer.com/article/10.3...

Final version now in press at Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience! Congratulations to Rachel for her hard work on this ☺️🧠⚡
trebuchet.public.springernature.app/get_content/...

Changes in our feelings, or "affective surprise," may act as a learning signal that influences what we remember. Large magnitude deviations in experienced valence during encoding relate to better long-term associative memory.

Hmm, we also have some null effects with precueing in the flanker that i never got around to writing up. I’ll take a look at the paper!

No, I wish :) but I assume you will be at APS with the award! Just CNS for me. But hope to see you again soon!

Yes agreed! I am going to CNS in a couple weeks, if you are going there as well as APS 😊

hooray!! congratulations YC, well-deserved!! 😊

This Wednesday February 25! Dr. Michael Treadway (Emory University) is presenting in
@motcogmeet.bsky.social series: "Effort-Based Decision-Making and Its Discontents: Precision medicine approaches for understanding the pathophysiology and treatment of motivational deficits in mental illness" 1/

Congrats Dave!! 🎉

I am looking to hire 2-3 post-docs over the course of the next few months to work on questions related to cognitive control in humans, broadly construed. EEG, TMS, DBS, sEEG, fMRI or related methodological experience preferred.
Apply here:

jobs.uiowa.edu/jobSearch/po...

Lab website: wessellab.org

One day online conference on the ways behavioral and neural sciences can inform peace efforts. Organized by Duke's amazing @felipedebrigard.bsky.social Free! Tomorrow! (Fri Feb 6). To register see link below.

behavioralscientist.org/program-neur...

DU to launch new bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering this fall | University of Denver

The University is excited to launch a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering later this fall! 🔬 https://bit.ly/46qiVfi

This new major is part of the DU Forward initiative and is designed to prepare students for #research, pre-health pathways, and careers in a range of fields.

Happy to chat if you like, message me. My parents met at LU ❤️

(Unless you’re heading to Orillia, I’m realizing)

My hometown!! Hope you love it. Lakehead is on the move. 😊

We are excited to announce our partnership with @inclivio.com's software for #SAS2026.
We’re counting down to the conference with a series of posts.
Enter a drawing for 3 EMA study licenses by liking (1 point) and reposting (3 points)!
#SAS #AffectiveScience #EMA #EmotionDynamics

Why do some things stick in memory while others fade?
Next Tue, Dec 9, Alan Castel (UCLA) will be presenting in
@motcogmeet.bsky.social online talk series on “Memory Selectivity in Younger and Older Adults: A Value-Directed Remembering Approach.” 1/

Join us! (link below)

Some of our fantastic @dupsychdept.bsky.social graduate students at #psynom25 😊

Hi #psynom25! Check out my grad student Rachel Brough's poster (III-150) at 6pm tonight: "Motivated Cognitive Control in Children Varying in ADHD Symptomology." This is a culmination of our big BBRF-funded study & w/ the large N, shows diff dimensions of ADHD scale w/ diff modes of control! ✨

She did great!! Very cool longitudinal data you all are collecting 😊

4) #psynomnomnom fans - check out the denverfood reddit or
@westword.com
for eats - there are options downtown but also lots of great places in RINO/highlands just north and west of downtown

See you soon :)
@psychonomicsociety.bsky.social

3) For a taste of the mountains accessible from the city, check out Red Rocks Amphitheater (~25 min drive from downtown, free entry during the day, trails + music museum) www.redrocksonline.com/plan-your-vi...
2/

Excited to welcome #psynom25 to Denver later this week! A couple travel tips ⛰️🌇
1) It's high altitude and dry here, DRINK WATER, take it easy your first day in!
2) From the airport, save $/emissions by taking the light rail 🚈 to Union Station, then rideshare/25min walk to the Sheraton hotel 1/

Picture of Corinna Loeckenhoff

Coming up on November 11! Dr. Corinna Loeckenhoff @loeckenhoff.bsky.social (Cornell University) will be presenting in @motcogmeet.bsky.social series: "Aging Differences in Decision Making: A Conceptual Framework" 1/

🚨 New publication! Our registered report in Journal of Educational Psychology examines whether common executive function (EF) tasks demonstrated measurement invariance across racial/ethnic groups. Spoiler: they don’t. ⚠️
doi.org/10.1037/edu0...

🚨🚨New precision imaging study and open dataset 🚨🚨 Featuring almost 200 functional runs acquired in 3-4d intervals and behavioral manipulations focused on intraindividual study of the reward response - The Night Owls Scan Club (NOSC) With @dvsmith.bsky.social and @olinotom.bsky.social!

I am recruiting a postdoc at UC Santa Barbara for an NIH-funded project on the organization of lateral PFC function--across emotion and cognition--using representational fMRI & TMS. I’d love to find someone w/ a background in cognitive control & computational modeling to complement our team! 🏝️ 🧠 🧲

Saw this art posted on FB & wanted to share it.

Indigenous Blue Jays logo (made by Kory Parkin/@paintsbyparkin)

#LetsGoBlueJays !