The unconscious and conscious foundations of human reward pursuit.

Dr. Erik H. Bijleveld (Utrecht University)

9 octobre 2012, 16h, Uni-Mail M5193

Although people’s responses to rewards are often considered to be caused by conscious decisions, the structure and function of the human brain suggests that reward processing begins in the unconscious. In this talk, I will build on this idea and propose that human reward processing occurs via subsequent unconscious and conscious processes. This idea is supported by a series of studies in which the intensity of reward stimuli was systematically varied (via subliminal vs. supraliminal presentation of coins). These studies reveal how unconscious and conscious reward-instigated processes can have distinct effects on performance. Taken together, it is my ambition to offer a refined (yet broadly applicable) understanding of how rewards affect human performance.