DescriptionFeedback is a valuable tool used by educators, clinicians, and others to facilitate learning. However, the extent to which feedback shapes changes in knowledge and behavior may be influenced by the affective salience of the feedback, which can vary depending on one’s goals and expectations for learning. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), I conducted three experiments to examine the role of the striatum as a potential neural mediator of such motivational influences on learning. This dissertation unites two disparate lines of research: the cognitive neuroscience of reinforcement learning and the social psychology of achievement motivation, to uncover the neural processes by which achievement goals influence learning. Converging evidence from behavioral and cognitive neuroscience has characterized the striatum as part of a learning system that uses positive and negative consequences to reinforce advantageous behaviors. Its responses to positive and negative outcomes are modulated by factors that increase or decrease the motivational significance of the outcomes, making it a prime candidate for biasing learning on the basis of achievement motivation. My three dissertation studies used behavioral methods inspired by the motivation literature to investigate the motivational effects of expectations, beliefs, and values on the striatal processing of performance-related feedback during learning. I observed that learning can be enhanced or diminished through the manipulation of motivationally relevant expectations, values, and beliefs that either increase or attenuate striatal responses to feedback.