Figure 1.

Example trials from the experimental paradigm. In both of these trials, the reward-cue indicated that the participant could earn 10 cents with a correct and sufficiently quick response (as opposed to 1 cent in the low-reward condition). The task-cue told the participant to respond to the arrow of the incongruent arrow-word stroop-like target in the first trial, but to the word of the incongruent arrow-word stroop-like target in the second trial. Hence, the second trial is an example of a switch of the task relative to the previous trial. Immediately after the response with a button box, feedback was given with the amount of reward the participant had earned for this specific trial. There was a variable delay of 2–6 s between cues and targets in which participants had to fixate on an asterisk in the middle of the screen.