Reward facilitates response conflict resolution via global motor inhibition: Electromyography evidence

It is crucial for humans to coordinate between behavioural tendencies that can lead to reward but are in conflict with each other. This response conflict can be measured in a reward-modulated Simon task, in which a discriminative response to the identity of a lateral target is required and the target is associated with either high- or low-reward. Critically, the lateral target is presented either congruent or incongruent with the location of the responding hand. It has been shown that relative to the low-reward target, the high-reward target induced a larger response conflict when the target was incongruent with the position of the task-required, reward-obtaining hand. Here we investigated how this response conflict is resolved by acquiring 24 healthy participants’ electromyography (EMG) signals from both the task-required responding hand (i.e., goal-directed effector) and the alternative hand (i.e., inappropriate effector). During the coping with the response conflict, motor inhibition (indexed by reduction in EMG signals between conditions) was observed not only at the inappropriate effector but also at the goal-directed effector. Individuals who showed stronger inhibition on the inappropriate effector suffered less from the inhibition on the goal-directed effector, and had more efficient implementation of the reward-obtaining response. Our findings suggest a global motor inhibition that may function to increase the signal-noise ratio in the motor system so as to implement reward-guided behavior.