Interactions of motivation and cognitive control

There is general agreement that both motivation and cognitive control play critical roles in shaping goal-directed behavior, but only recently has scientific interest focused around the question of motivation-control interactions. Here we briefly survey this literature, organizing contemporary findings around three issues: (1) whether motivation preferentially impacts cognitive control processes, (2) the neural mechanisms that underlie motivation-cognition interactions, and (3) why motivation might be relevant for overcoming the costs of control. Dopamine (DA) is discussed as a key neuromodulator in these motivation-cognition interactions. We conclude by highlighting open issues, specifically Pavlovian versus instrumental control distinctions and effects of motivational valence and conflict, which could benefit from future research attention.