Reward boosts cognitive control during working memory maintenance

Working memory (WM) involves short-term maintenance and manipulation of goal-relevant information, with cognitive control playing a crucial role in these processes due to WM's limited capacity. Pupillometry studies show distinct pupillary changes for WM stages, reflecting cognitive effort and load. Motivational incentives enhance WM performance by potentially improving encoding, maintenance, or retrieval, though the specific components influenced by reward remain unclear. This study specifically tested whether reward modulates cognitive control processes during WM maintenance using pupillometry. Participants performed a delayed-estimation orientation WM task with reward cues indicating reward levels at the beginning of trials. The results revealed that motivational incentives significantly improved WM performance and increased pupillary dilation during maintenance. These findings provide evidence for the modulation of WM maintenance by reward through enhanced top-down cognitive control processes.