Reward learning and statistical learning independently influence attentional priority of salient distractors in visual search

Abstract

Existing research demonstrates different ways in which attentional prioritisation of visual stimuli is shaped by prior experience: reward learning renders signals of high-value outcomes more likely to capture attention than signals of low-value outcomes, whereas statistical learning can produce attentional suppression of the location in which salient distractor items are likely to appear. The current study combined manipulations of the value and location associated with distractors in visual search to investigate whether these different effects of selection history operate independently, or interact to determine overall attentional prioritisation of salient distractors. In Experiment 1, high- and low-value distractors most frequently appeared in the same location; in Experiment 2, high- and low-value distractors typically appeared in distinct locations. In both experiments, effects of distractor value and location were additive, suggesting that attention-promoting effects of value and attention-suppressing effects of physical salience independently modulate overall attentional priority. Our findings are consistent with a view that sees attention as mediated by a common priority map that receives and integrates separate signals relating to physical salience and value.

Reward encourages reactive, goal-directed suppression of attention

“…Electrophysiological and neuroimaging research has also been consistent with the idea that reward has a rapid influence on the visual system, with reward modulation of stimulus-driven activity being observed as early as sensory cortex (Hickey et al, 2010;MacLean & Giesbrecht, 2015;Serences, 2008;Serences & Saproo, 2010; but see Tankelevitch et al, 2020). Moreover, the VMAC effect has been demonstrated to be largely immune to goal-directed attentional control, in that the attentional bias to reward signals persists even when explicit instructions about the counterproductive consequences of orienting to the reward-signalling distractor are provided (Kim & Anderson, 2019;Pearson et al, 2015), and under conditions in which capture by physically salient stimuli can be suppressed (Le Pelley et al, 2020;Pearson et REWARD ENCOURAGES REACTIVE SUPPRESSION 8 al., 2020). Together, these findings suggest that signals of reward are afforded special priority within the visual system, such that they rapidly and automatically capture our attention and gaze, even when suppressing such capture would be in our best interest.…”

Reward encourages reactive, goal-directed suppression of attention.

“…Electrophysiological and neuroimaging research has also been consistent with the idea that reward has a rapid influence on the visual system, with reward modulation of stimulus-driven activity being observed as early as sensory cortex (Hickey et al, 2010; MacLean & Giesbrecht, 2015; Serences, 2008; Serences & Saproo, 2010; but see Tankelevitch et al, 2020). Moreover, the VMAC effect has been demonstrated to be largely immune to goal-directed attentional control, in that the attentional bias to reward signals persists even when explicit instructions about the counterproductive consequences of orienting to the reward-signaling distractor are provided (Kim & Anderson, 2019; Pearson et al, 2015), and under conditions in which capture by physically salient stimuli can be suppressed (Kim & Anderson, 2021; Le Pelley et al, 2020; Pearson et al, 2020). Together, these findings suggest that signals of reward are afforded special priority within the visual system, such that they rapidly and automatically capture our attention and gaze, even when suppressing such capture would be in our best interest.…”