Rewards interact with explicit knowledge to enhance skilled motor performance

Abstract

Offering people rewards and incentives typically improves their performance on skilled motor tasks. However, the mechanisms by which motivation impacts motor skills remains unclear. In two experiments, we show that motivation impacts motor sequencing skills in two separate ways. First, the prospect of reward speeds up the execution of all actions. Second, rewards provide an additional boost to motor planning when explicit skill knowledge can be used to prepare movements in advance.

Topics & Concepts