Effects of reward anticipation on memory encoding and cognitive control outcomes: A meta-analysis

Extensive evidence suggests that cognitive performance is typically enhanced under increased motivation, often in the form of reward anticipation. While monetary incentive delay (MID)-style paradigms have been widely used to elicit and examine effects of reward anticipation on cognition, the extent to which such effects are comparable across cognitive domains and varying task designs is unclear. This meta-analysis synthesizes the literature, examining how reward anticipation modulates memory encoding accuracy (58 effect sizes from 43 publications, N = 2072), cognitive control accuracy (70 effect sizes from 53 publications, N = 2615), and cognitive control reaction time (RT; 74 effect sizes from 56 publications, N = 2554). Reward effect magnitudes differed across outcomes, with the largest effect for cognitive control RT (Cohen's d = 0.807), followed by memory accuracy (Cohen's d = 0.537), and cognitive control accuracy (Cohen's d = 0.286). Moderators related to reward manipulations and task design were tested. For memory accuracy, significant moderators included reward incentive type, presence of a false alarm penalty at recognition, encoding intentionality, memoranda type, and retrieval format. For cognitive control accuracy and RT, reward type and task type moderated the effect. Task timing was not a significant moderator for any domain. Overall, reward effects on cognitive performance appear highly sensitive to contextual parameters, with study-level variability in experimental designs accounting for notable heterogeneity, particularly for memory encoding. Considering such heterogeneity within and across cognitive domains is crucial for developing a comprehensive understanding of reward anticipation effects and advancing the field of motivated cognition.