Reward expectation and spatial attention both exert powerful control over behaviour and modulate neural activity. The experiments in this thesis aimed to chart the dynamics of reward expectation effects across the time course of information processing and examine the relationship between reward and attention. Experiments 3.1 and 3.2 parametrically manipulated reward magnitude in the presence or absence of attention and demonstrated reward could influence reaction time (RT) under conditions of time pressure. Experiments 4.1 and 4.2 independently varied reward and spatial probabilities and illustrated independent and interactive effects of reward and attention at late stages of cognitive processing (the P300 potential), as well as modulation of detection sensitivity (d') by reward under conditions of uncertainty when reward was able to work through feature-based attention. The experiment of Chapter 5 cued reward and attention trial by trial and showed under these conditions, not only could reward influence late stages of information processing, but expectation of reward reduced peak latency of the visual N1 potential. Reward and attention also modulated motor preparation with both independent and interactive effects. The experiment of Chapter 6 examined the dynamics of reward association with task-relevant targets and irrelevant distracters during visual search and demonstrated that task-irrelevant but motivationally-salient distracter items could capture attentional resources away from the target, guided by endogenous reward association alone. The experiments of this thesis demonstrated the ability of reward expectation to modulate both behaviour and multiple stages of information processing, with effects predominantly independent from those of attention. Reward could influence processing from early visual analysis and target detection stages. Interaction between the two systems occurred at late processing stages, whereby reward and attentional information may have been integrated to provide a cohesive representation of the stimulus given the current environmental conditions.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder characterised by severe emaciation due deliberate restriction of food intake and an intense fear of gaining weight. Theoretical accounts of AN have to date focused predominately on cognitive elements of the disorder, yet resulting treatments have been inadequate and outcome for AN remains poor. Understanding the processes that maintain the disorder is an important step in developing effective strategies to augment existing treatments. With this in mind, the question arises: what processes drive AN? Novel frameworks for AN suggest that particular information processing configurations or “modes” may underpin many symptoms of AN, such as preoccupation with control of eating, weight and shape. More specifically, it is proposed that a ruminative mode of processing may function as an avoidance strategy in AN, enabling individuals to neglect salient and rewarding stimuli, such as food, and thus uphold restrictive eating practices. Whilst empirical studies have examined processes such as rumination, avoidance and reward in depression, they have seldom been studied in AN. The aim of this thesis is therefore to understand the role of rumination and reward processes in AN. Chapter 1 reviews the literature on AN, rumination and reward processing. Chapter 2 presents data demonstrating to what extent the content of rumination in AN differs from rumination in depression and the effect that rumination may have on ED symptoms. The study conducted in Chapter 3 examines whether individuals with AN can be switched out of rumination around meal times and what effect this has on AN psychopathology. Chapter 4 presents neuroimaging data which elucidates the brain regions involved in processing rewarding and aversive food stimuli after recovery from AN. The study reported in Chapter 5 teases apart hedonic (liking) versus motivational (wanting) aspects of food reward in AN. The final study (Chapter 6) provides further evidence using neuroimaging that rumination may be an important process in AN which may override appetitive responses to rewarding stimuli, such as food. The studies reported support the notion that rumination and aberrant reward processing may be involved in the maintenance of AN.

Contexte: L’anhédonie, un état caractérisé par une capacité réduite d’éprouver du plaisir. Des études cliniques récentes montrent qu’un médicament antipsychotique atypique, la quétiapine, est bénéfique pour le traitement de la toxicomanie qui est supposé d’atténuer les symptômes de sevrage associés à l’usage abusif des drogues psychotropes. Le but de la présente étude était d’étudier les effets de l'administration aiguë de quétiapine sur la récompense chez des animaux en état de sevrage après un traitement chronique avec l’amphétamine. Notre hypothese est que la quetiapine va diminuer l’anhedonie causer par le sevrage. Méthodes: Les expériences ont été effectuées avec des rats mâles de la souche Sprague-Dawley entraînés à produire une réponse opérante pour obtenir une courte stimulation électrique au niveau de l'hypothalamus latéral. Des mesures du seuil de récompense ont été déterminées chez différents groupes de rats avant et pendant quatre jours après le traitement avec des doses croissantes (1 à 10 mg/kg, ip toutes les 8 heures) de d-amphétamine sulfate, ou de son véhicule, au moyen de la méthode du déplacement de la courbe. L’effet de deux doses de quétiapine a été testé 24 h après le sevrage chez des animaux traités avec l’amphétamine ou le véhicule. Résultats: Les animaux traités avec l’amphétamine ont montré une augmentation de 25% du seuil de récompense 24 h après la dernière injection, un effet qui a diminué progressivement entre le jour 1 et le jour 4, mais qui est resté significativement plus élevé en comparaison de celui du groupe contrôle. La quétiapine administrée à 2 et 10 mg/kg pendant la phase de sevrage (à 24 h) a produit une augmentation respective de 10 % et 25 % du seuil de recompense; le meme augmentation du seuil a été observe chez les animaux traitées avec le véhicule. Un augmentation de 25 % du seuil de recompense a aussi été observés chez les animaux en état de sevrage à l'amphétamine. Un test avec une faible dose d’amphétamine (1 mg/kg) avant et après le sevrage a révélé une légère tolérance à l’effet amplificateur de cette drogue sur la récompense, un phénomène qui pourrait expliquer l’effet différent de la quétiapine chez les animaux traités avec le véhicule et ceux traités avec l’amphétamine. Conclusions: Ces résultats reproduisent ceux des études précédentes montrant que la quétiapine produit une légère atténuation de la récompense. Ils montrent également que le sevrage à l’amphétamine engendre un léger état d'anhédonie et que dans cet état, une dose élevée de quetiapine et non pas une dose faible accentue l’état émotionnel négatif. Ils suggèrent qu’un traitement à faibles doses de quétiapine des symptômes de sevrage chez le toxicomane devrait ni aggraver ni améliorer son état émotionnel. / Background: Anhedonia, a condition in which the capacity of experiencing pleasure is reduced, is observed in patients that are under withdrawal from drugs of abuse. Recent clinical studies show that quetiapine may be beneficial in the treatment of substance abuse by alleviating the withdrawal-negative affect stage of addiction. This study investigated the effects of acute quetiapine on reward in animals under withdrawal from d-amphetamine. Methods: Experiments were performed on male Sprague-Dawley rats trained for intracranial self-stimulation. Measures of reward threshold were determined with the curve-shift method in different groups of rats before, and during four days after treatment with escalating doses (1 to 10 mg/kg, i.p) of d-amphetamine sulphate or its vehicle. At 24h after withdrawal, the effects of two doses of quetiapine (2 and 10 mg/kg ip) were tested in all the animals. Results: Animals treated with d-amphetamine showed 25% reward attenuation at 24h of withdrawal, an effect that decreased over the next three days. Quetiapine administered acutely at 2mg/kg and 10mg/kg on the first day of withdrawal produced 10% and 25% reward attenuation, respectively, in the vehicle-control animals, an effect also observed in the animals under withdrawal from d-amphetamine but only at the high dose. Conclusions: These results show that quetiapine produced a mild attenuation of reward in normohedonic and in anhedonic animals. They suggest that quetiapine should be used at low doses for the treatment of substance abusers under withdrawal from psychostimulant drugs to avoid enhancement of the anhedonic state.

The study investigated the relationships between perceived contingency of parental rewarding and punishing behaviors and locus. of control. Scores on Levenson's Internal, Powerful Others, and Chance locus of control scales were correlated with scores on Yates, Kennelly, and Cox's (1975) Perceived Contingency of Rewards and Punishments Questionnaire. Few significant correlations were obtained. Maternal non-contingent reward related negatively and significantly to internality for males. Paternal non-contingent reward related positively and significantly to males' perception of control by powerful others. And paternal contingent reward related negatively and significantly to females' perceptions of control by chance. Results are discussed relative to learned helplessness research interpretations.

Inhalants are a loosely defined diverse group of volatile substances which people abuse. Despite widespread misuse of inhalants, there are limited preclinical methods available to study the reinforcement-like properties of inhalants. One procedure which has demonstrated substantial promise as a tool to investigate inhalant pharmacology is the intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) procedure. ICSS utilizes pulses of electrical stimulation to the mesolimbic reward pathway to serve as a temporally defined and controlled operant reinforcer with a highly adjustable efficacy. The first aim of the project was to characterize the effects of commonly abused inhalants: including toluene, trichloroethane, nitrous oxide, isoflurane and R134a in ICSS. The second aim was to attenuate inhalant-facilitated ICSS by utilization of compounds which would attenuate the pharmacological actions of toluene on GABAA receptors. The low efficacy benzodiazepine negative modulator Ro15-4513 significantly attenuated the ability of toluene to facilitate ICSS without itself significantly altering baseline ICSS responding. Pretreatment with Ro15-4513 also attenuated methamphetamine ICSS even though there is no evidence of methamphetamine interacting with GABAA receptors. Given these unexpected results, I employed a microdialysis procedure to examine the effect of Ro15-4513 on methamphetamine stimulated dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. Pretreatment with Ro15-4513 significantly attenuated methamphetamine stimulated dopamine release while having a negligible effect on dopamine release when administered alone. These results suggest that a modest level of benzodiazepine-site negative modulation can reduce the reinforcement enhancing effects of abused drugs regardless of their primary mechanism of action through allosteric modulation of GABAergic neurons within the mesolimbic pathway. Further, these results may have implications for expanding the examination of GABAA negative modulator medications beyond those trials currently being conducted with alcohol. Finally, the effects of chronic intermittent toluene exposure on ICSS and nesting behaviors were examined. Subjects were systemically exposed to air, chronic intermittent toluene (CIT), or escalating chronic intermittent (ECIT) toluene for 15 min at 3300 PPM toluene vapor per exposure. The results show that ECIT resulted in decreased overall responding in ICSS relative to air control and showed a tolerance-like effect to facilitatory effects of 3300 ppm toluene during ICSS compared to CIT group. These results indicate that escalating use of toluene produces reductions in its reward-like effects and may contribute to escalation to other drugs of abuse.

Kandidatuppsats, Civilekonomprogrammet, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet i Växjö, 2FE24E   Titel: Belöningssystem ur olika perspektiv Författare: Mattias Brandt, Oliver Carlsson och Rasmus Lennartsson Examinator: Elin Funck Handledare: Anders Jerreling   Bakgrund och problemdiskussion: Den privata tjänstesektorn står för över halva Sveriges BNP och med en nedåtgående rörelsemarginal för denna bransch utgör ekonomistyrning en viktig funktion. Inom ekonomistyrning ingår flertalet olika styrmedel där belöningssystem utgör en del av företagens styrmix. Belöningssystem finns till för att styra och påverka anställda mot företagets övergripande mål och strategi. För att företag ska kunna styra i rätt riktning krävs det att de vet hur deras anställda motiveras vilket i sin tur leder till att de måste förstå hur deras medarbetare påverkas av olika slags incitament.   Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att beskriva och förklara hur säljare inom den privata tjänstesektorn styrs genom belöningssystem och hur detta uppfattas av de operativa säljarna. Detta för att utreda om det finns en överensstämmelse med vad som motiverar säljarna och vad dem belönas för. Vidare skall detta bidra med hur säljare motiveras genom sammansättning av monetära och icke-monetära belöningar.   Metod: Uppsatsen är strukturerad kring en kvalitativ metod. En komparativ studie med fallstudieinslag har genomförts där insamling av data skett genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuerna genomfördes på två försäljningsföretag inom den privata tjänstesektor som tillhandahåller finansiella tjänster.   Slutsats: Försäljningsföretagen har syften som baseras i att styra säljare till ökat värde av organisationen genom försäljning. Grunderna utgår ifrån finansiella mål och mätningar sker i form av antal försäljningar och volym på premien eller lånet. Det existerar i vissa fall även icke-finansiella mål till viss grad hos företagen. Formen av belöningar kommer främst i monetär form men är även till viss del kombinerat med icke-monetära belöningar. Det visar sig att de icke-monetära belöningarna såsom tävlingar, erkännande och beröm anses mer värdefulla av de anställda vid förändring av företagets storlek och miljö. Det visar sig att den personliga styrningen försvinner samtidigt med den icke-monetära delen av det formella belöningssystemet. Mottagarna upplever belöningarna på olika sätt beroende på om de drivs av yttre eller inre motivation. Det existerar många risker inom belöningssystem varav ett stort är att kombinationen av finansiella mål och icke-monetära belöningar inte alltid motsvarar den prestation som krävs för belöning. Nyckelord: Belöningssystem, contingency theory, tjänstesektor, motivation, belöningar / Bachelor thesis, Program of Master of Science in Business and Economics, School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus University in Växjö, 2FE24E   Title: Reward system from different perspectives Authors: Mattias Brandt, Oliver Carlsson och Rasmus Lennartsson Examiner: Elin Funck Advisor: Anders Jerreling   Background and problem discussion: The private sales area are accountable for more than half of Sweden's GDP, and with a downward operating margin this industry constitutes financial control an important function. Within financial management, a number of different instruments are included in which reward systems form part of the corporate governance mix. Reward systems exist to control and influence employees towards the company's overall goals and strategy. In order for companies to manage in the right direction, they need to know how their employees are motivated, which in turn leads them to understand how their employees are influenced by different incentives.   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and explain how salesmen in the private sales area are controlled by reward systems and how these are perceived by the operating salesmen. The study is made to see if there is conformity between what motivates salesmen and what they are rewarded for. This shall further on contribute to how salesmen are motivated through financial and non-financial rewards.     Method: This bachelor thesis is structured around a qualitative method. A comparative case study where data has been collected through semi structured interviews. These interviews were made on two sales companies in the private service area who offer financial services.   Conclusion: The sales companies have objectives based on directing salesmen to increased value of the organization through sales. Fundamentals are based on financial targets and measurements are made on number of sales and volume of the premium or loan. In some cases, non-financial targets also exist to a certain extent among the companies. The form of rewards comes primarily in financial terms but is also partly combined with non-financial rewards. It turns out that the non-financial rewards such as competitions, recognition and praise are considered more valuable by the employees when changing the size and the environment of the company. It turns out that personal governance disappears simultaneously with the non-financial part of the formal reward system. The recipients experience the rewards in different ways depending on whether they are driven by external or internal motivation. There are many risks in reward systems, one of which is that the combination of financial goals and non-financial rewards doesn’t always correspond to the performance required for reward. Keywords: Reward system, contingency theory, private service sector, motivation, rewards

Sustainability is becoming increasingly more important for companies as the public demands that companies are more transparent and act in a responsible manner. This thesis researches what role management control systems play when implementing and working with sustainability. This was done by interviewing CSO’s and controllers as well as examining annual financial and sustainability reports at three large Swedish firms, all praised for their sustainability work. The data was compared between the case companies and analysed by using the management control systems framework by Malmi and Brown (2008). The findings show that the cultural controls coupled with the administrative controls have the most important role to play when implementing sustainability, as they provide the basis for the other control systems. These other control systems have currently a much smaller role to play as there are still challenges connected to sustainability that hinder the use of these control systems to their full potential. The findings further show that the key to implementing sustainability lies in the company’s ability to find and create business cases concerning sustainability as this help aligning the sustainability goals with the business goals and overall strategy.

Master of Science / Department of Psychology / Kimberly Kirkpatrick / Several studies have examined timing and impulsive choice behavior in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) as a possible pre-clinical model for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, the strain has not been specifically selected for the traits of ADHD and as a result their appropriateness as a model has been questioned. This study investigated whether SHR would exhibit timing deficits, poor reward processing and impulsive behavior in comparison to the Wistar Kyoto (WKY) control strain in a discrete-trial choice task. In addition, as a first approach to find another potential animal model of ADHD, we evaluated a strain that has shown high levels of impulsivity, the Lewis (LEW) rats and compared them with the Wistar (WIS) rats. In the first phase of the experiment, rats could chose a lever associated with a Smaller-sooner (SS) reward of 1 pellet delivered after 10 s and a Larger-later (LL) reward of 2 pellets delivered after 30 s. Subsequently, the rats were exposed to different phases, where the reward on the LL choice was increased to 3 and 4 pellets and where the delay to the SS choice was increased to 15 and 20 s. The SHR and WKY strains did not differ in their timing or choice behavior. In comparison to WIS, LEW showed timing deficits in both manipulations and deficits in choice behavior in the delay manipulation, indicating deficits in time processing. Individual differences among the rat within a strain accounted a significant proportion of the total variance and contributed more variance than the strain of the rat. These results indicate that the SHR and LEW strains are not sufficiently homogeneous with respect to impulsive choice behavior to be considered as viable models for impulse control disorders such as ADHD.

The aim of the diploma thesis is the theoretic description of forms of motivation, rewards and punishments applied on elementary school pupils. The research was aimed at the individual forms of motivation, rewards and punishments that respondents apply in their teaching and what the effects are. Theory and practice are compared with the intention to highlight attitudes and features that are applied by teachers in the fields of motivation, rewards and punishments. Consequently, the agreement of forms of motivation and rewards for pupils described in the literature and their application of practical teaching at the elementary school was confirmed. However, the point the academic literature and applied practice differs were the forms and methods of pupil's punishments. Opinions about applied forms of punishment have been diverged by individual interviewed teachers although researched file shows considerable agreement in the previous two topics. The purpose of the thesis is to acquire an outline and detailed information about the given issue and their subsequent comparison with the practice knowledge. The thesis also enriches the theoretical resources with the real experience and whatsoever, there is a general monitoring of the approach of elementary school teachers to this issue. The practical part proceeds in...

La fonction publique française a mis en place depuis plusieurs années des initiatives de rémunération des agents publics en fonction de leurs performances. Le bilan mitigé de ces initiatives invite à questionner à la fois les effets recherchés (critères de performance) mais également les processus et les outils d’estimation de cette performance (politiques, évaluation, outils, etc.). Le constat le plus prégnant transparaît dans l’absence d’impact motivationnel des rémunérations basées sur la performance. Dans ce contexte, notre recherche vise à étendre le concept de rémunération au concept de rétribution globale orienté vers la performance, et incluant des éléments de rétributions extrinsèque et intrinsèque. Nous mobilisons le cadre d’analyse du contrat psychologique pour appréhender les effets de la rétribution globale sur les attitudes des agents territoriaux, en appréhendant les attentes implicites et les perceptions de réalisation du contrat psychologique dans le cadre de la dyade managers-collaborateurs. Nos principaux résultats confirment l’impact faible de la rémunération extrinsèque sur la performance individuelle des agents capturée par leurs attitudes. Ils montrent, a contrario, l’importance de la rémunération intrinsèque en termes de motivation, d’implication et de satisfaction. Ainsi, la rétribution extrinsèque et la rétribution intrinsèque doivent faire l’objet d’une stratégie globale, pensée par l’organisation et ses décideurs, autour d’un panachage approprié de rétribution extrinsèque et de rétribution intrinsèque en fonction des caractéristiques de l’organisation territoriale considérée. / The French public sector has implemented for several years some policies aiming to reward public employees regarding to their performance. The mixed results of these initiatives led to question the relevancy of the pursued objectives (performance criteria) as well as the relevancy of the process and of the tools used for evaluating employee performance (policies, evaluation, tools, and so on). One of the most important results is probably the absence of a motivational impact of a performance-based remuneration. In this regard, our research aims to extend the concept of performance-based remuneration to the concept of total reward, including extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. We select the “psychological contract” framework of analysis to understand the impact of a total reward, within French local organizations, on public employees’ attitudes. We especially collect employees’ implicit expectations and perceptions for understanding the realization of the “psychological contract” and its impacts on the dyad employee-manager. Our results confirm the limited impact of extrinsic rewards for enhancing employee performance, captured through their attitudes. They show, on the contrary, the importance of intrinsic rewards for employee attractiveness and loyalty. We conclude that extrinsic and intrinsic rewards should be carefully combined by managers within a global and planned rewarding strategy appropriate to each local organization’s characteristics.