Role of contingency in the effects of appetitive and aversive motivation on emotional distraction

The presence of task-irrelevant emotional stimuli impedes behavioural performance. Some past studies have reported that performance-based monetary rewards mitigate emotional interference by enhancing cognitive control. In such manipulations, the effects of the expected reward value and the contingency between a successful response and reward outcome were conflated. To disentangle the contribution of these two distinct components of motivation, we conducted two behavioural experiments to investigate the role of contingency in the effects of appetitive and aversive motivation on emotional distraction. In Experiment 1 involving appetitive motivation, a pre-cue indicated different reward levels (high vs. low) and contingency (contingent vs. non-contingent) conditions. Subsequently, participants performed a letter-search task while ignoring a centrally presented positive, neutral, or negative task-irrelevant image. In the reaction time data, we detected a three-way interaction between Contingency, Reward, and Distractor Valence. Specifically, in the contingent (but not during non-contingent) condition, we observed reduced negative (but not positive) distraction during high (relative to low) reward prospect trials. Similar interaction patterns were observed in Experiment 2, where we manipulated aversive motivation via the prospect of monetary losses. Overall, our findings indicate that contingency plays a crucial role in driving the effects of appetitive and aversive motivation on emotional distraction.