Kou Murayama et al. (2010)
fMRI evidence that performance-based monetary rewards reduce intrinsic motivation via decreased striatal and prefrontal valuation activity.
The paper tackles the “undermining effect,” where performance-based monetary incentives can reduce intrinsic motivation rather than boost it. Using a newly developed task, the authors show that paid performance reduces later voluntary engagement, a behavioral marker of intrinsic motivation. fMRI results link this drop to decreased activity in anterior striatum and prefrontal regions, implicating a corticobasal ganglia valuation system that integrates extrinsic reward value with intrinsic task value. This provides neural evidence relevant to self-determination theory debates and cautions against incentive designs that may crowd out autonomous motivation.
Behavioral induction of the undermining effect combined with functional MRI measurement of reward/valuation-related brain activity.
Basic self-determination theory (intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation) and introductory neuroscience of reward valuation circuits.