Reward speeds target detection but not the decision to quit searching

Rewards make us faster at finding what we are looking for, but a new study suggests that this motivational boost does not simply make visual search more efficient. Instead, it appears to work largely through the decision-making machinery that governs when we declare a target present and when we give up looking.

The study, published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, examined how reward availability shapes visual search in two different settings: a static search task, in which the display stayed fixed, and a dynamic search task, in which the search context changed over time. The work was conducted by Liu Yijun, Song Yejing, Luo Xiaoxiao and Kang Guanlan.

Across two experiments, the researchers manipulated three factors: whether a reward was available on a given trial, whether the target was present or absent, and the size of the search set. The color of the search array signaled whether reward was available. Participants could earn a reward for correct responses that were faster than their own baseline performance in the reward condition, while no reward was provided in the no-reward condition.

The central finding was consistent across both experiments: reward facilitated responses when the target was present, but it did not improve performance when the target was absent. In other words, motivational incentives sharpened detection, but they did not help participants terminate their search more effectively when no target existed.

The two search contexts, however, told different stories about how reward achieves its effect. In static search, reward influenced both search efficiency and decisional processes. In dynamic search, the effects of reward were primarily confined to decisional processes, leaving search efficiency largely untouched.

To separate these components, the authors used computational modeling. The models consistently indicated that reward reduced decision caution for target-present responses in both search contexts. A reduction in decision caution means participants were willing to commit to a “target present” decision more readily, rather than gathering more evidence before responding.

The influence of reward on target-absent decisions was weaker and depended on the search context. This asymmetry suggests that the processes governing target detection and the processes governing search termination are not the same, and that motivational incentives reach them differently.

Taken together, the findings indicate that reward effects on decisional processes were more consistent across the two visual search contexts, whereas reward effects on search efficiency appeared to depend more strongly on the search context. The authors conclude that target detection and search termination are differentially influenced by motivational incentives.

The study is an open access article published on 1 October 2026, and the version shared is a peer-reviewed, accepted manuscript that remains subject to further editorial edits before the final version of record. As with all laboratory search experiments, the results reflect performance on controlled tasks with manipulated set sizes and reward contingencies, and the authors frame their conclusions in terms of the two search contexts examined rather than as a general claim about all visual search.

For anyone who has ever hunted for keys or a name in a crowded list, the message is intriguing: an incentive may make you quicker to say “found it,” but it may do little to help you decide when to stop looking.

Subject of Research: How reward influences target detection and search termination in static and dynamic visual search

Article Title: Distinct roles of reward in target detection and search termination: evidence from static and dynamic visual search

Article References: Yijun, L., Yejing, S., Xiaoxiao, L., & Guanlan, K. (2026). Distinct roles of reward in target detection and search termination: evidence from static and dynamic visual search. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-026-00759-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s41235-026-00759-1

Keywords: visual search, reward, decision making, target detection, search termination, static search, dynamic search, computational modeling, decision caution, cognitive psychology, Distinct, roles