Both monkey electrophysiology and human neuroimaging research suggest that the control of selective attention relies on a distributed set of fronto-parietal regions, including FEF in frontal cortex and IPS in parietal cortex. These regions, which in many cases appear to work together, are often conceptualized as “source” regions that exert control over sensory-processing areas to help select the information that is most relevant at a given time. One way to interpret the data from the attention studies described in the previous sections is to suggest that motivation acts on cognition to maximize potential reward in a way that relies on robust interactions between the attentional network and other reward/valuation networks. Among others, valuation regions include: (i) subcortically: the caudate, putamen and nucleus accumbens in the ventral striatum, and the amygdala; and (ii) cortically: the OFC, anterior insula, ACC and PCC. During trials in which reward (or punishment avoidance) is possible, valuation and attentional networks interact, resulting in enhanced behavioral performance that is supported by improved selection of sensory information. Critically, reward-related effects on cognitive function are specific (e.g., increased detection performance), as opposed to global (e.g., arousal). Whereas “independent” contributions from attention and motivation (Figure 3A) are not necessarily excluded, the above considerations are suggestive of the “mediation” and “integration” scenarios (Figures 3B,C) described above.