Integrating motivation and attention: behavioral and neural perspectives

Giampiero Bardella^1*Emiliano Brunamonti¹Suliann Ben Hamed²Fabio Di Bello^1*

• ¹Universita degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
• ²Institut des sciences cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Bron, France

time-dependent motor and perceptual contingencies. This is in contrast with previous studies suggesting that cue predictiveness may play a key role in both preventing initial global stopping and enhancing perceptual processing of the stop signal (Haque et al., 2024;Di Bello et al., 2022). Overall, these findings deepen our understanding of motivation-attention coupling by showing that adaptive motor inhibition also depends on the temporal dynamics of salient stimulus presentation, operating beyond conscious strategic control (Padmala & Pessoa, 2010., Giuffrida et al., 2023). In his study, Chang examines the relationship between motivation, imagination, and creativity in digital gaming, combining psychological analyses (SEM) with EEG measures. The EEG data reveal increased activity in brain regions associated with creative thinking and emotional processing, including the prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, occipital lobes, and amygdala. The findings suggest that imagination mediates the relationship between motivation and creative performance, likely encouraging flexible exploration and attentional control during gameplay. Although much remains to be understood about the mechanisms that govern the interaction between attention and motivation, the articles in this Research Topic reinforce the idea of a tight relationship between the two systems and highlight the potential of leveraging motivational cues to enhance cognitive performance, learning, and creativity in both experimental and applied contexts.