Generalization of value-based attentional priority

Reward History and Statistical Learning Independently Impact Attention Search: An ERP Study

Selection history is widely accepted as a vital source in attention control. Reward history indicates that a learned association captures attention even when the reward is no longer presented, while statistical learning indicates that a learned probability exerts its influence on attentional control (facilitation or inhibition). Existing research has shown that the effects of the reward history and statistical learning are additive, suggesting that these two components influence attention priority through different pathways. In the current study, leveraging the temporal resolution advantages of EEG, we explored whether these two components represent independent sources of attentional bias. The results revealed faster responses to the target at the high-probability location compared to low-probability locations. Both the target and distractor at high-probability locations elicited larger early Pd (50-150 ms) and Pd (150-250 ms) components. The reward distractor slowed the target search and elicited a larger N2pc (180-350 ms). Further, no interaction between statistical learning and the reward history was observed in RTs or N2pc. The different types of temporal progression in attention control indicate that statistical learning and the reward history independently modulate the attention priority map.

Observational learning of threat-related attentional bias

Attentional bias to threat has been almost exclusively examined after participants experienced repeated pairings between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US). This study aimed to determine whether threat-related attentional capture can result from observational learning, when participants acquire knowledge of the aversive qualities of a stimulus without themselves experiencing aversive outcomes. Non-clinical young-adult participants (N = 38) first watched a video of an individual (the demonstrator) performing a Pavlovian conditioning task in which one colour was paired with shock (CS+) and another colour was neutral (CS-). They then carried out visual search for a shape-defined target. Oculomotor measures evidenced an attentional bias toward the CS+ colour, suggesting that threat-related attentional capture can ensue from observational learning. Exploratory analyses also revealed that this effect was positively correlated with empathy for the demonstrator. Our findings extend empirical and theoretical knowledge about threat-driven attention and provide valuable insights to better understand the formation of anxiety disorders.

Activation thresholds, not quitting thresholds, account for the low prevalence effect in dynamic search

The low-prevalence effect (LPE) is the finding that target detection rates decline as targets become less frequent in a visual search task. A major source of this effect is thought to be that fewer targets result in lower quitting thresholds, i.e., observers respond target-absent after looking at fewer items compared to searches with a higher prevalence of targets. However, a lower quitting threshold does not directly account for an LPE in searches where observers continuously monitor a dynamic display for targets. In these tasks there are no discrete "trials" to which a quitting threshold could be applied. This study examines whether the LPE persists in this type of dynamic search context. Experiment 1 was a 2 (dynamic/static) x 2 (10%/40% prevalence targets) design. Although overall performance was worse in the dynamic task, both tasks showed a similar magnitude LPE. In Experiment 2, we replicated this effect using a task where subjects searched for either of two targets (Ts and Ls). One target appeared infrequently (10%) and the other moderately (40%). Given this method of manipulating prevalence rate, the quitting threshold explanation does not account for the LPE even for static displays. However, replicating Experiment 1, we found an LPE of similar magnitude for both search scenarios, and lower target detection rates with the dynamic displays, demonstrating the LPE is a potential concern for both static and dynamic searches. These findings suggest an activation threshold explanation of the LPE may better account for our observations than the traditional quitting threshold model.

Trichotomy revisited: A monolithic theory of attentional control

The control of attention was long held to reflect the influence of two competing mechanisms of assigning priority, one goal-directed and the other stimulus-driven. Learning-dependent influences on the control of attention that could not be attributed to either of those two established mechanisms of control gave rise to the concept of selection history and a corresponding third mechanism of attentional control. The trichotomy framework that ensued has come to dominate theories of attentional control over the past decade, replacing the historical dichotomy. In this theoretical review, I readily affirm that distinctions between the influence of goals, salience, and selection history are substantive and meaningful, and that abandoning the dichotomy between goal-directed and stimulus-driven mechanisms of control was appropriate. I do, however, question whether a theoretical trichotomy is the right answer to the problem posed by selection history. If we reframe the influence of goals and selection history as different flavors of memory-dependent modulations of attentional priority and if we characterize the influence of salience as a consequence of insufficient competition from such memory-dependent sources of priority, it is possible to account for a wide range of attention-related phenomena with only one mechanism of control. The monolithic framework for the control of attention that I propose offers several concrete advantages over a trichotomy framework, which I explore here.

Affect-congruent attention modulates generalized reward expectations

Positive and negative affective states are respectively associated with optimistic and pessimistic expectations regarding future reward. One mechanism that might underlie these affect-related expectation biases is attention to positive- versus negative-valence features (e.g., attending to the positive reviews of a restaurant versus its expensive price). Here we tested the effects of experimentally induced positive and negative affect on feature-based attention in 120 participants completing a compound-generalization task with eye-tracking. We found that participants' reward expectations for novel compound stimuli were modulated in an affect-congruent way: positive affect induction increased reward expectations for compounds, whereas negative affect induction decreased reward expectations. Computational modelling and eye-tracking analyses each revealed that these effects were driven by affect-congruent changes in participants' allocation of attention to high- versus low-value features of compounds. These results provide mechanistic insight into a process by which affect produces biases in generalized reward expectations.

Learned cognitive control counteracts value-driven attentional capture

Stimuli formerly associated with monetary reward capture our attention, even if this attraction is contrary to current goals (so-called value-driven attentional capture [VDAC], see Anderson (Ann N Y Acad Sci 1369:24-39, 2016), for a review). Despite the growing literature to this topic, little is known about the boundary conditions for the occurrence of VDAC. In three experiments, we investigated the role of response conflicts and spatial uncertainty regarding the target location during the training and test phase for the emergence of value-driven effects. Thus, we varied the occurrence of a response conflict, search components, and the type of task in both phases. In the training, value-driven effects were rather observed if the location of the value-associated target was not predictable and a response conflict was present. Value-driven effects also only occurred, if participants have not learned to deal with a response conflict, yet. However, the introduction of a response conflict during learning of the color-value association seemed to prevent attention to be distracted by this feature in a subsequent test. The study provides new insights not only into the boundary conditions of the learning of value associations, but also into the learning of cognitive control.

Better Controlled, Better Maintained: Sense of Agency Facilitates Working Memory

The cognitive effects of sense of agency (SoA) attract increasing attention. It is unclear how SoA influences working memory (WM). In the present study, participants first moved several boxes. One of the boxes was more or less controllable than the majority. After boxes stopped moving, to-be-remembered items appeared. Memory performance and SoA over them were subsequently tested. In Experiments 1a and 1b, the majority of boxes, serving as context, were under low and high control respectively. To further examine whether the maintenance stage was influenced, the effect of selective encoding was minimized in Experiments 2a and 2b. Experiment 2b further eliminated the impact of agency judgments and tested the relationship among SoA, WM, and preference. Memory was better for items with strong SoA in the high and low control contexts. The effect partly stems from the modulation of the maintenance stage in WM, in which reward-based processes could be engaged.

Structural abnormalities in adolescents with conduct disorder and high versus low callous unemotional traits

There may be distinct conduct disorder (CD) etiologies and neural morphologies in adolescents with high callous unemotional (CU) traits versus low CU traits. Here, we employed surface-based morphometry methods to investigate morphological differences in adolescents diagnosed with CD [42 with high CU traits (CD-HCU) and 40 with low CU traits (CD-LCU)] and healthy controls (HCs, N = 115) in China. Whole-brain analyses revealed significantly increased cortical surface area (SA) in the left inferior temporal cortex and the right precuneus, but decreased SA in the left superior temporal cortex in the CD-LCU group, compared with the HC group. There were no significant cortical SA differences between the CD-HCU and the HC groups. Compared to the CD-HCU group, the CD-LCU group had a greater cortical thickness (CT) in the left rostral middle frontal cortex. Region-of-interest analyses revealed significant group differences in the right hippocampus, with CD-HCU group having lower right hippocampal volumes than HCs. We did not detect significant group differences in the amygdalar volume, however, the right amygdalar volume was found to be a significant moderator of the correlation between CU traits and the proactive aggression in CD patients. The present results suggested that the manifestations of CD differ between those with high CU traits versus low CU traits, and underscore the importance of sample characteristics in understanding the neural substrates of CD.

Cross-modal generalization of value-based attentional priority

This study aimed to determine whether value-based attentional biases learned in the auditory domain can correspondingly shape visual attention. A learning phase established associations between auditory words and monetary rewards via a modified version of the dichotic listening task. In a subsequent test phase, participants performed a Stroop task including written representations of auditory words previously paired with reward and semantic associates of formerly rewarded words. Results support a semantic generalization of value-driven attention from the auditory to the visual domain. The findings provide valuable insight into a critical aspect of adaptation and the understanding of maladaptive behaviors (e.g., addiction).

Spatial task relevance modulates value-driven attentional capture

Attention tends to be attracted to visual features previously associated with reward. To date, nearly all existing studies examined value-associated stimuli at or near potential target locations, making such locations meaningful to inspect. The present experiments examined whether the attentional priority of a value-associated stimulus depends on its location-wise task relevance. In three experiments we used an RSVP task to compare the attentional demands of a value-associated peripheral distractor to that of a distractor associated with the top-down search goal. At a peripheral location that could never contain the target, a value-associated color did not capture attention. In contrast, at the same location, a distractor in a goal-matching color did capture attention. The results show that value-associated stimuli lose their attentional priority at task-irrelevant locations, in contrast to other types of stimuli that capture attention.

Filling the gaps: Cognitive control as a critical lens for understanding mechanisms of value-based decision-making

While often seeming to investigate rather different problems, research into value-based decision making and cognitive control have historically offered parallel insights into how people select thoughts and actions. While the former studies how people weigh costs and benefits to make a decision, the latter studies how they adjust information processing to achieve their goals. Recent work has highlighted ways in which decision-making research can inform our understanding of cognitive control. Here, we provide the complementary perspective: how cognitive control research has informed understanding of decision-making. We highlight three particular areas of research where this critical interchange has occurred: (1) how different types of goals shape the evaluation of choice options, (2) how people use control to adjust the ways they make their decisions, and (3) how people monitor decisions to inform adjustments to control at multiple levels and timescales. We show how adopting this alternate viewpoint offers new insight into the determinants of both decisions and control; provides alternative interpretations for common neuroeconomic findings; and generates fruitful directions for future research.

The past, present, and future of selection history

The last ten years of attention research have witnessed a revolution, replacing a theoretical dichotomy (top-down vs. bottom-up control) with a trichotomy (biased by current goals, physical salience, and selection history). This third new mechanism of attentional control, selection history, is multifaceted. Some aspects of selection history must be learned over time whereas others reflect much more transient influences. A variety of different learning experiences can shape the attention system, including reward, aversive outcomes, past experience searching for a target, target‒non-target relations, and more. In this review, we provide an overview of the historical forces that led to the proposal of selection history as a distinct mechanism of attentional control. We then propose a formal definition of selection history, with concrete criteria, and identify different components of experience-driven attention that fit within this definition. The bulk of the review is devoted to exploring how these different components relate to one another. We conclude by proposing an integrative account of selection history centered on underlying themes that emerge from our review.

Testing reward-cue attentional salience: Attainment and dynamic changes

A great wealth of studies has investigated the capacity of motivationally relevant stimuli to bias attention, suggesting that reward predicting cues are prioritized even when reward is no longer delivered and when attending to such stimuli is detrimental to reward achievement. Despite multiple procedures have been adopted to unveil the mechanisms whereby reward cues gain attentional salience, some open questions remain. Indeed, mechanisms different from motivation can be responsible for the capture of attention triggered by the reward cue. In addition, we note that at present only a few studies have sought to address whether the cue attractiveness dynamically follows changes in the associated reward value. Investigating how and to what extent the salience of the reward cue is updated when motivation changes, could help shedding light on how reward‐cues attain and maintain their capacity to attract attention, and therefore on apparent irrational attentive behaviors.

Search strategies improve with practice, but not with time pressure or financial incentives

When searching for an object, do we minimize the number of eye movements we need to make? Under most circumstances, the cost of saccadic parsimony likely outweighs the benefit, given the cost is extensive computation and the benefit is a few hundred milliseconds of time saved. Previous research has measured the proportion of eye movements directed to locations where the target would have been visible in the periphery as a way of quantifying the proportion of superfluous fixations. A surprisingly large range of individual differences has emerged from these studies, suggesting some people are highly efficient and others much less so. Our question in the current study is whether these individual differences can be explained by differences in motivation. In two experiments, we demonstrate that neither time pressure nor financial incentive led to improvements of visual search strategies; the majority of participants continued to make many superfluous fixations in both experiments. The wide range of individual differences in efficiency observed previously was replicated here. We observed small but consistent improvements in strategy over the course of the experiment (regardless of reward or time pressure) suggesting practice, not motivation, makes participants more efficient. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Reward-driven attention alters perceived salience

Many studies have revealed that reward-associated features capture attention. Neurophysiological evidence further suggests that this reward-driven attention effect modulates visual processes by enhancing low-level visual salience. However, no behavioral study to date has directly examined whether reward-driven attention changes how people see. Combining the two-phase paradigm with a psychophysical method, the current study found that compared with nonsalient cues associated with lower reward, the nonsalient cues associated with higher reward captured more attention, and increased the perceived contrast of the subsequent stimuli. This is the first direct behavioral evidence of the effect of reward-driven attention on low-level visual perception.

Punishment-modulated attentional capture is context specific

Attention prioritizes stimuli previously associated with punishment. Despite the importance of this process for survival and adaptation, the potential generalization of punishment-related attentional biases has been largely ignored in the literature. This study aimed to determine whether stimulus-punishment associations learned in a specific context bias attention in another context (in which the stimulus was never paired with punishment). We examined this issue using an antisaccade task in which participants had to shift their gaze in the opposite direction of a colored square during stimulus-outcome learning. Two contexts and three colors were employed. One color was associated with punishment (i.e., electrical shock) in one context and never paired with punishment in the other context. For a second color, the punishment-context relationship was reversed. A third color never paired with shock in either context (neutral) was included in Experiment 1 but absent in Experiment 2. Participants then performed search for a shape-defined target in an extinction phase (in which no shock was delivered) in which attentional bias for the colors was assessed. Context was manipulated via the background image upon which the stimuli were presented. In each of the two experiments, a bias to selectively orient toward the color that had been associated with punishment in the current context was observed, suggesting that punishment-modulated attentional priority is context specific.

Value Associations Modulate Visual Attention and Response Selection

Every day, we are confronted with a vast amount of information that all competes for our attention. Some of this information might be associated with rewards (e.g., gambling) or losses (e.g., insurances). To what extent such information, even if irrelevant for our current task, not only attracts attention but also affects our actions is still a topic under examination. To address this issue, we applied a new experimental paradigm that combines visual search and a spatial compatibility task. Although colored stimuli did not modulate the spatial compatibility effect more than gray stimuli, we found clear evidence that reward and loss associations attenuated this effect, presumably by affecting attention and response selection. Moreover, there are hints that differences in these associations are also reflected in a modulation of the spatial compatibility effect. We discuss theoretical implications of our results with respect to the influences of color, reward, and loss association on selective attention and response selection.

Neural Mechanisms of Reward-by-Cueing Interactions: ERP Evidence

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to the phenomenon that a person is slower to respond to targets at a previously cued location. The present study aimed to explore whether target-reward association is subject to IOR, using event-related potentials (ERPs) to explore the underlying neural mechanism. Each participant performed a localization task and a color discrimination task in an exogenous cueing paradigm, with the targets presented in colors (green/red) previously associated with high- or low-reward probability. The results of both tasks revealed that the N1, Nd, and P3 components exhibited differential amplitudes between cued and uncued trials (i.e., IOR) under low reward, with the N1 and Nd amplitudes being enhanced for uncued trials compared to cued trials, and the P3 amplitude being enhanced for cued trials vs. uncued trials. Under high reward, however, no difference was found between the amplitudes on cued and uncued trials for any of the components. These findings demonstrate that targets that were previously associated with high reward can be resistant to IOR and the current results enrich the evidence for interactions between reward-association and attentional orientation in the cueing paradigm.

Electroencephalographic Theta-Band Oscillatory Dynamics Represent Attentional Bias to Subjective Preferences in Value-Based Decisions

Background

Previous studies have shown that people always pay more attention to highly preferred items of choice, which is well defined by behavioral measurements and eye-tracking. However, less is known about the neural dynamics underlying the role that visual attention plays in value-based decisions, especially in those characterized by the “relative value” (ie, value difference) between two items displayed simultaneously in a binary choice.

Purpose

This study examined the neural temporal and neural oscillatory features underlying selective attention to subjective preferences in value-based decision making.

Methods

In this study, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) measurements while participants performed a binary choice task in which they were instructed to respond to their preferred snack in high value difference (HVD) or low value difference (LVD) conditions.

Results

Behaviorally, participants showed faster responses and lower error rates in the HVD condition than in the LVD condition. In parallel, participants exerted a reduced prefrontal N2 component and attenuated frontal theta-band synchronization in the HVD condition as opposed to the LVD condition. Crucially, participants showed greater N2pc component and theta-band synchronization over the human posterior cortex in the HVD condition than in the LVD condition. Moreover, there was a direct correlation between frontal and posterior theta-band synchronization.

Conclusion

The results show that theta-band oscillatory dynamics may represent attentional bias to subjective preferences, and this effect can be modulated by the level attentional bias to subjective preferences, and this effect can be modulated by the level of value difference. Our research provides insights into a new avenue via which the processing of selective attention and value representation in the value-based decisions can be implicated in an integrative neural oscillatory mechanism.

Beyond Looking for the Rewarded Target: The Effects of Reward on Attention in Search Tasks

One puzzling result in training-test paradigms is that effects of reward-associated stimuli on attention are often seen in test but not in training. We focus on one study, where reward-related performance benefits occur in the training and which was discussed contentiously. By using a similar design, we conceptually replicated the results. Moreover, we investigated the underlying mechanisms and processes resulting in these reward-related performance benefits. In two experiments, using search tasks and having participants perform the tasks either with or without individually adjusted time pressure, we disentangled the mechanisms and processes contributing to the reward-related benefits. We found evidence that not only search efficiency is increased with increasing reward, but also that non-search factors contribute to the results. By also investigating response time distributions, we were able to show that reward-related performance effects increased as search time increased in demanding tasks but not in less demanding tasks. Theoretical implications of the results regarding how reward influences attentional processing are discussed.

Effects of reward associations on components of attentional network

Previous research has revealed the influence of reward associations on attentional selection and control. The attentional network can be divided into three components according to its function: Alerting, orienting, and executive control. In the current research, we used training-test procedure and attention network test variant to investigate the effects of color-based reward associations on alerting (Experiment 1), orienting (Experiment 2), executive control (Experiment 3), as well as the interactions among these three networks (Experiment 4). The findings were as follows: Compared with colors previously associated with low reward, colors previously associated with high reward trigger stronger alerting and orienting effects (Experiments 1 and 2), and they had stronger interference effects when functioning as features of flanker distractor (Experiment 3). More importantly, reward associations had only a positive impact on the interaction of orienting by executive control but not on the interaction of alerting by executive control (Experiment 4). In summary, reward associations have different effects on the three attentional networks and can enhance the interaction of orienting by executive control.

Uncertainty modulates value-driven attentional capture

The majority of previous studies on the value modulation of attention have shown that the magnitude of value-driven attentional bias correlates with the strength of reward association. However, relatively little is known about how uncertainty affects value-based attentional bias. We investigated whether attentional capture by previously rewarded stimuli is modulated by the uncertainty of the learned value without the influence of the strength of reward association. Participants were instructed to identify the line orientation in the target color circle. Importantly, each target color was associated with a different level of uncertainty by tuning the variation in reward delivery (Experiment 1) or reward magnitude (Experiment 2). Attentional interference for uncertainty-related distractors was greater than that for certainty distractors in Experiments 1 and 2. In addition, uncertainty-induced attentional bias disappeared earlier than attentional bias for certainty. The study demonstrated that uncertainty modulates value-based attentional capture in terms of strength and persistence, even when the effect of expected value remains constant.

Reward history impacts attentional orienting and inhibitory control on untrained tasks

It has been robustly shown that stimuli with reward history receive attentional priority. However, the majority of this research tests reward history effects on attentional bias using similar tasks for both the reward learning phase and the unrewarded testing phase, which limits our understanding of how the effects of reward history generalize beyond the trained tasks and mental sets. Across two new experiments, the current study addresses these issues by first associating reward with a stimulus in a visual search paradigm, and then testing value-driven effects of that stimulus in untrained and unrewarded tasks, including a cueing paradigm, a go/no-go task, and a delay discounting task. Results of Experiment 1 demonstrate that history of reward association in a visual search task generalizes to value-driven attentional bias in a different attention paradigm (i.e., cueing), indicating these effects are indeed attributable to imbued value that can transfer to other tasks beyond that in which the reward was trained. The results of Experiment 2 demonstrate that in addition to eliciting attentional orienting on untrained tasks, reward history can lead to better inhibitory control in the go/no-go task. We find no evidence for reward history effects in the delay discounting task. Together, these experiments demonstrate that when the reward association task is in the attention domain, reward history modulates attentional priority, and this effect generalizes to untrained and unrewarded tasks that utilize both spatial and nonspatial attention.

Selection history is relative

Visual attention can be tuned to specific features to aid in visual search. The way in which these search strategies are established and maintained is flexible, reflecting goal-directed attentional control, but can exert a persistent effect on selection that remains even when these strategies are no longer advantageous, reflecting an attentional bias driven by selection history. Apart from feature-specific search, recent studies have shown that attention can be tuned to target-nontarget relationships. Here we tested whether a relational search strategy continues to bias attention in a subsequent task, where the relationally better color and former target color both serve as distractors (Experiment 1) or as potential targets (Experiment 2). We demonstrate that a relational bias can persist in a subsequent task in which color serves as a task-irrelevant feature, both impairing and facilitating visual search performance. Our findings extend our understanding of the relational account of attentional control and the nature of selection history effects on attention.

The influence of threat and aversive motivation on conflict processing in the Stroop task

Motivated attention can be driven by the desire to maximize gains or escape punishment. In the Stroop task, when rewards can be obtained by responding quickly to certain colors, corresponding color words are prioritized and produce enhanced interference, suggesting transfer of an attentional bias from color hues to color words. In the present study, we replicated this transfer effect using reward and conducted a parallel experiment exchanging the prospect of reward (appetitive motivation) with the opportunity to avert punishment (aversive motivation). Participants were required to identify the color (hue) of color words and received electric shocks for responses to particular hues that were slow or incorrect. Shock-related words similarly impaired color-ink naming performance. In contrast to prior studies with reward, however, responding to hues associated with shock was also impaired, with threat producing an increase in error rate that ironically resulted in more frequent shocks. Our results suggest that aversive and appetitive motivation affect attention to task-relevant information differently, although each produces a common bias in automatic stimulus processing presumably driven by valence.

Semantic generalization of value-based attentional priority

This study aimed to determine whether attentional prioritization of stimuli associated with reward transfers across conceptual knowledge independently of physical features. Participants successively performed two color-word Stroop tasks. In the learning phase, neutral words were associated with high, low, or no monetary reward. In the generalization phase (in which no reward was delivered), synonyms of words previously paired with reward served as Stroop stimuli. Results are consistent with semantic generalization of stimulus-reward associations, with synonyms of high-value words impairing color-naming performance, although this effect was particular to participants who were unaware of the reward contingencies.

Reward history but not search history explains value-driven attentional capture

In past years, an extensive amount of research has focused on how past experiences guide future attention. Humans automatically attend to stimuli previously associated with reward and stimuli that have been experienced during visual search, even when it is disadvantageous in present situations. Recently, the relationship between "reward history" and "search history" has been discussed critically. We review results from research on value-driven attentional capture (VDAC) with a focus on these two experience-based attentional selection processes and their distinction. To clarify inconsistencies, we examined VDAC within a design that allows a direct comparison with other mechanisms of attentional selection. Eighty-four healthy adults were trained to incidentally associate colors with reward (10 cents, 2 cents) or with no reward. In a subsequent visual search task, distraction by reward-associated and unrewarded stimuli was contrasted. In the training phase, reward signals facilitated performance. When these value-signaling stimuli appeared as distractors in the test phase, they continuously shaped attentional selection, despite their task irrelevance. Our findings clearly cannot be attributed to a history of target search. We conclude that once an association is established, value signals guide attention automatically in new situations, which can be beneficial or not, depending on the congruency with current goals.

Assessing the role of accuracy-based feedback in value-driven attentional capture

Despite being physically nonsalient and task-irrelevant, objects rendered in a color that once signaled monetary reward reflexively capture attention during visual search, a phenomenon known as value-driven attentional capture (VDAC). However, it remains a subject of empirical controversy whether learned reward associations are necessary to driving subsequent attentional capture: VDAC-like effects have been observed when accuracy-based feedback alone was used during the VDAC training phase, resulting in attentional capture by objects that were never associated with monetary reward; perplexingly, the presence of these VDAC-like effects in the literature conflicts with those of a number of control studies in which no such capture has been observed, leaving the issue currently unresolved. In this Registered Report, we present new empirical evidence of attentional capture by unrewarded former targets following limited accuracy-based training. We proposed to replicate these results in an independent sample and to test an empirically derived hypothesis concerning a methodological difference between the studies that have shown VDAC-like effects with accuracy-based feedback and those that have not. In short, we found no evidence that this methodological difference accounts for the inconsistencies in the literature, but our replication efforts were overwhelmingly successful, thus reinvigorating debate about the role that selection history may play in value-driven attentional capture.

Value-driven attentional capture is modulated by the contents of working memory: An EEG study

Attention and working memory (WM) have previously been shown to interact closely when sensory information is being maintained. However, when non-sensory information is maintained in WM, the relationship between WM and sensory attention may be less strong. In the current study, we used electroencephalography to evaluate whether value-driven attentional capture (i.e., allocation of attention to a task-irrelevant feature previously associated with a reward) and its effects on either sensory or non-sensory WM performance might be greater than the effects of salient, non-reward-associated stimuli. In a training phase, 19 participants learned to associate a color with reward. Then, participants were presented with squares and encoded their locations into WM. Participants were instructed to convert the spatial locations either to another type of sensory representation or to an abstract, relational type of representation. During the WM delay period, task-irrelevant distractors, either previously-rewarded or non-rewarded, were presented, with a novel color distractor in the other hemifield. The results revealed lower alpha power and larger N2pc amplitude over posterior electrode sides contralateral to the previously rewarded color, compared to ipsilateral. These effects were mainly found during relational WM, compared to sensory WM, and only for the previously rewarded distractor color, compared to a previous non-rewarded target color or novel color. These effects were associated with modulations of WM performance. These results appear to reflect less capture of attention during maintenance of specific location information, and suggest that value-driven attentional capture can be mitigated as a function of the type of information maintained in WM.

Neural evidence for automatic value-modulated approach behaviour

Reward learning has the ability to bias both attention and behaviour. The current study presents behavioural and neural evidence that irrelevant responses evoked by previously reward-associated stimuli are more robustly represented in the motor system using a combined go/no-go and flankers task. Following a colour-reward association training, participants were instructed to respond to a central target only in a response-relevant context, while ignoring flankers that appeared either in a high-value or low-value colour. The motor cortex and cerebellum exhibited reduced activation to low-value flankers in a response-irrelevant context, consistent with goal-directed response suppression. However, these same regions exhibited similar activation to high-value flankers regardless of their response relevance, indicating less effective suppression, and the resulting interaction in motor cortex activation was strongly predicted by the influence of the flankers on behaviour. These findings suggest that associative reward learning produces a general approach bias, which is particularly evident when it conflicts with task goals, extending the principle of value-driven attention to stimulus-evoked responses in the motor system.

Pavlovian reward learning elicits attentional capture by reward-associated stimuli

Feature-reward association elicits value-driven attentional capture (VDAC) regardless of the task relevance of associated features. What are the necessary conditions for feature-reward associations in VDAC? Recent studies claim that VDAC is based on Pavlovian conditioning. In this study, we manipulated the temporal relationships among feature, response, and reward in reward learning to elucidate the necessary components of VDAC. We presented reward-associated features in a variety of locations in a flanker task to form a color-reward association (training phase) and then tested VDAC in a subsequent visual search task (test phase). In Experiment 1, we showed reward-associated features in a task display requiring response selection and observed VDAC, consistent with most previous studies. In Experiment 2, features presented at a fixation display before a task display also induced VDAC. Moreover, in Experiment 3, we reduced the time interval between features and rewards so that features appeared after a task display and we obtained marginally significant VDAC. However, no VDAC was observed when features and rewards were simultaneously presented in a feedback display in Experiments 4 and 5, suggesting that a direct association between feature and reward is not sufficient for VDAC. These results are in favor of the idea that response selection does not mediate feature-reward association in VDAC. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the time interval of feature and reward is flexible with some restriction in the learning of feature-reward association. The present study supports the hypothesis that theories of Pavlovian conditioning can account for feature-reward association in VDAC.

Do Reward-Related Distractors Impair Cognitive Performance? Perhaps Not

Over a hundred prior studies show that reward-related distractors capture attention. It is less clear, however, whether and when reward-related distractors affect performance on tasks that require cognitive control. In this experiment, we examined whether reward-related distractors impair performance during a demanding arithmetic task. Participants (N = 81) solved math problems, while they were exposed to task-irrelevant stimuli that were previously associated with monetary rewards (vs. not). Although we found some evidence for reward learning in the training phase, results from the test phase showed no evidence that reward-related distractors harm cognitive performance. This null effect was invariant across different versions of our task. We examined the results further with Bayesian analyses, which showed positive evidence for the null. Altogether, the present study showed that reward-related distractors did not harm performance on a mental arithmetic task. When considered together with previous studies, the present study suggests that the negative impact of reward-related distractors on cognitive control is not as straightforward as it may seem, and that more research is needed to clarify the circumstances under which reward-related distractors harm cognitive control.

Positive emotions have a unique capacity to capture attention

Most of the previous research in the area of cognitive psychology or cognitive neuroscience focused on studying negative emotions and argued that the negative emotional stimuli capture attention involuntarily as compared to neutral stimuli. However, in the last decades, researchers started paying attention in studying positive emotions also as positive emotions have evolutionary significance and are essential for many aspects of our life. The theme of this chapter is to present an overview of research in the area of positive emotions, and make a case that positively-valenced stimulus is prioritized over others. Primarily, when attentional resources are not constrained, many studies have shown that similar to negative stimuli, positive stimuli also capture attention automatically irrespective of whether they are relevant or irrelevant to the primary task. It suggests a fundamental prioritization of these stimuli by the cognitive/motivational system. However, when attentional resources are constrained, only positive or high rewarding stimuli win the competition for attentional resources compared to negative or stimuli associated with high punishment. Positive or high rewarding stimuli also receive priority in temporal selection, when attention is constrained. Theoretical implications of these results have been discussed. Possible cognitive and neural mechanisms have been proposed underlying these effects.

Dollars do not determine detection: Monetary value associated with unexpected objects does not affect the likelihood of inattentional blindness

Conscious perception often fails when an object appears unexpectedly and our attention is focused elsewhere (inattentional blindness). Although various factors have been identified that modulate the likelihood of this failure of awareness, it is not clear whether the monetary reward value associated with an object can affect whether or not this object is detected under conditions of inattention. We hypothesised that unexpectedly appearing objects that contain a feature linked to high value, as established via reward learning in a previous task, would subsequently be detected more frequently than objects containing a feature linked to low value. A total of 537 participants first learned the association between a perceptual feature (colour) and subsequent reward values (high, low, or none reward). Afterwards, participants were randomly assigned to a static (Experiment 1) or dynamic (Experiment 2) inattentional blindness task including an unexpected object associated with high, low, or none reward. However, no significant effect of the previously learned value on the subsequent likelihood of detection was observed. We speculate that artificial monetary value, which is known to affect attentional capture, is not strong enough to determine whether or not an object is consciously perceived.

Knowledge about the predictive value of reward conditioned stimuli modulates their interference with cognitive processes

Stimuli conditioned with a substance can generate drug-approach behaviors due to their acquired motivational properties. According to implicit theories of addiction, these stimuli can decrease cognitive control automatically. The present study (n = 49) examined whether reward-associated stimuli can interfere with cognitive processes in the absence of knowledge about stimulus–outcome contingencies. Conditioned stimuli (CS) were paired with high-reward (HR) or low-reward (LR) probabilities of monetary reward using a Pavlovian learning task. Participants were categorized as Aware or Unaware of contingencies using a Bayesian analysis. CS were then used as task-irrelevant distractors in modified flanker and N-back tasks. Results show HR CS can generate increased interference in the flanker task for participants Unaware of contingencies, contributing further evidence for the existence of implicit Pavlovian conditioning. For the N-back task, working memory performance was affected by HR CS, albeit only for Aware participants. These results suggest that CS can interfere implicitly with cognitive processes in a similar way to drug-related stimuli. Such an effect could occur in a stimulus-driven fashion, devoid of top-down goal-directedness. These findings have implications for the conceptualization and study of implicit processes in addiction and highlights the necessity to reconsider the measurement of such phenomena.

Influence of reward learning on visual attention and eye movements in a naturalistic environment: A virtual reality study

Rewards constitute crucial signals that motivate approach behavior and facilitate the perceptual processing of objects associated with favorable outcomes in past encounters. Reward-related influences on perception and attention have been reliably observed in studies where a reward is paired with a unidimensional low-level visual feature, such as the color or orientation of a line in visual search tasks. However, our environment is drastically different and composed of multidimensional and changing visual features, encountered in complex and dynamic scenes. Here, we designed an immersive virtual reality (VR) experiment using a 4-frame CAVE system to investigate the impact of rewards on attentional orienting and gaze patterns in a naturalistic and ecological environment. Forty-one healthy participants explored a virtual forest and responded to targets appearing on either the left or right side of their path. To test for reward-induced biases in spatial orienting, targets on one side were associated with high reward, whereas those on the opposite side were paired with a low reward. Eye-movements recording showed that left-side high rewards led to subsequent increase of eye gaze fixations towards this side of the path, but no such asymmetry was found after exposure to right-sided high rewards. A milder spatial bias was also observed after left-side high rewards during subsequent exploration of a virtual castle yard, but not during route turn choices along the forest path. Our results indicate that reward-related influences on attention and behavior may be better learned in left than right space, in line with a right hemisphere dominance, and could generalize to another environment to some extent, but not to spatial choices in another decision task, suggesting some domain- or context-specificity. This proof-of-concept study also outlines the advantages and the possible drawbacks of the use of the 3D CAVE immersive platform for VR in neuroscience.

Reward-associated distractors can harm cognitive performance

When people carry out cognitive tasks, they sometimes suffer from distractions, that is, drops in performance that occur close in time to task-irrelevant stimuli. In this research, we examine how the pursuit of rewards contributes to distractions. In two experiments, participants performed a math task (in which they could earn monetary rewards vs. not) while they were exposed to task-irrelevant stimuli (that were previously associated with monetary rewards vs. not). In Experiment 1, irrelevant cues that were previously associated with rewards (vs. not) impaired performance. In Experiment 2, this effect was only replicated when these reward-associated distractors appeared relatively early during task performance. While the results were thus somewhat mixed, they generally support the idea that reward associations can augment the negative effect of distractors on performance.

How humans react to changing rewards during visual foraging

Much is known about the speed and accuracy of search in single-target search tasks, but less attention has been devoted to understanding search in multiple-target foraging tasks. These tasks raise and answer important questions about how individuals decide to terminate searches in cases in which the number of targets in each display is unknown. Even when asked to find every target, individuals quit before exhaustively searching a display. Because a failure to notice targets can have profound effects (e.g., missing a malignant tumor in an X-ray), it is important to develop strategies that could limit such errors. Here, we explored the impact of different reward patterns on these failures. In the Neutral condition, reward for finding a target was constant over time. In the Increasing condition, reward increased for each successive target in a display, penalizing early departure from a display. In the Decreasing condition, reward decreased for each successive target in a display. The experimental results demonstrate that observers will forage for longer (and find more targets) when the value of successive targets increases (and the opposite when value decreases). The data indicate that observers were learning to utilize knowledge of the reward pattern and to forage optimally over the course of the experiment. Simulation results further revealed that human behavior could be modeled with a variant of Charnov's Marginal Value Theorem (MVT) (Charnov, 1976) that includes roles for reward and learning.

Multiple reward-cue contingencies favor expectancy over uncertainty in shaping the reward-cue attentional salience

Reward-predicting cues attract attention because of their motivational value. A debated question regards the conditions under which the cue's attentional salience is governed more by reward expectancy rather than by reward uncertainty. To help shedding light on this relevant issue, here, we manipulated expectancy and uncertainty using three levels of reward-cue contingency, so that, for example, a high level of reward expectancy (p = .8) was compared with the highest level of reward uncertainty (p = .5). In Experiment 1, the best reward-cue during conditioning was preferentially attended in a subsequent visual search task. This result was replicated in Experiment 2, in which the cues were matched in terms of response history. In Experiment 3, we implemented a hybrid procedure consisting of two phases: an omission contingency procedure during conditioning, followed by a visual search task as in the previous experiments. Crucially, during both phases, the reward-cues were never task relevant. Results confirmed that, when multiple reward-cue contingencies are explored by a human observer, expectancy is the major factor controlling both the attentional and the oculomotor salience of the reward-cue.

Too Tasty to Be Ignored

Recent research has shown that even non-salient stimuli (colored circles) can gain attentional weight, when they have been loaded with some value through previous reward learning. The present study examined such value-based attentional weighting with intrinsically rewarding food stimuli. Different snacks were assumed to have different values for people due to individual food preferences. Participants indicated their preferences toward various snacks and then performed a flanker task with these snacks: they had to categorize a target snack as either sweet or salty; irrelevant flanker snacks were either compatible or incompatible with the target category. Results of a linear mixed-effects model show that the effect of flanker compatibility on participants' performance (response times) increased with the participants' preference toward the flanking snacks. This shows, for the first time, that attentional weightings in a flanker task with naturalistic stimuli (snacks) are modulated by participants' preferences toward the flankers.

Decomposing experience-driven attention: Opposite attentional effects of previously predictive cues

A central function of the brain is to track the dynamic statistical regularities in the environment - such as what predicts what over time. How does this statistical learning process alter sensory and attentional processes? Drawing upon animal conditioning and predictive coding, we developed a learning procedure that revealed two distinct components through which prior learning-experience controls attention. During learning, a visual search task was used in which the target randomly appeared at one of several locations but always inside an encloser of a particular color - the learned color served to direct attention to the target location. During test, the color no longer predicted the target location. When the same search task was used in the subsequent test, we found that the learned color continued to attract attention despite the behavior being counterproductive for the task and despite the presence of a completely predictive cue. However, when tested with a flanker task that had minimal location uncertainty - the target was at the fixation surrounded by a distractor - participants were better at ignoring distractors in the learned color than other colors. Evidently, previously predictive cues capture attention in the same search task but can be better suppressed in a flanker task. These results demonstrate opposing components - capture and inhibition - in experience-driven attention, with their manifestations crucially dependent on task context. We conclude that associative learning enhances context-sensitive top-down modulation while it reduces bottom-up sensory drive and facilitates suppression, supporting a learning-based predictive coding account.