Reward Module Ups the Ante

If you expect an reward for remembering something, you are much more likely to remember it. In an article in the May 4, 2006, Neuron, Alison Adcock and colleagues describe the process from the standpoint of brain modules.

The studies used the following task: Volunteers saw scenes and later had to indicate whether the recognized the scene. The scenes were marked with a symbol indicating how much reward (no money to $5.00) they would get for quick response in recognizing the scene.

Observations from fMRI were taken during the task. The first study showed that high-valued trials activated a particular brain region known to play a role in processing emotions. Of course, the high-valued scenes were remembered much more successfully.

In a second study, the researchers presented the value signal ahead of the scenes. The evidence indicated that a high-value signal tended to activate both the emotion-related brain region and the learning-related hippocampus. The results suggest that the reward-related module alerted the relevant memory module to strengthen the process of memory formation. This process is an example of psychological set. The brain is not merely accepting inputs and passively storing them. It is actively filtering them on the basis of what it expects.

Psychologists have long known about the effect of psychological set, emotion and reward on memory. This study documents the brain modules involved in a particular instance.

Since psychologists already know about this principle, they must have impressive procedures to apply this knowledge to practical learning goals. In school, for example. I am still waiting to be impressed.

Behold the power of academic abstraction to know everything in general and nothing in particular:

>If you do something to establish a reward set and then show that it improves memory, the psychologist will say, “Of course. We have known that for years.”

>If you do something to establish a reward set and then show that it does not improve memory, the psychologist will say, “You obviously failed to establish a reward set.”

The technical term for this last statement is tautology. If you don’t get the predicted result, the outcome proves that you did something wrong. The power of academic abstraction. You can’t be wrong about abstract terms if you don’t specify what they mean.

The R&D problem in this case is that psychology has not established an independent way to measure the effectiveness of procedures that are intended to establish a reward set. There are some guidelines. Here are some relevant suggestions;
When is a Goal not a Goal?
Dump Your Goals.
Your brain modules already know your short-term goals.
The Goal of Goals

Here I will just point out that the this study shows how to get an independent measure of reward set. It will not be easy or cheap (fMRI is neither of these). But it will be more rewarding than academic abstraction. Will that prospect of reward motivate psychologists to do more studies on how to establish a reward set? Wait till next year.