场景在价值驱动注意捕获中的作用

本研究采用训练-测试范式考察场景信息在价值驱动注意捕获中的作用。实验1训练阶段将唯一性的场景信息与奖励建立联结,测试阶段发现只有当分心刺激出现在高奖励场景中才能捕获注意;实验2训练阶段将场景和颜色信息联合但分别独立预测奖励,结果发现高奖励颜色出现在任何场景中都能捕获注意。研究结果表明:(1)场景-价值联结能够引发注意捕获效应;(2)与场景相比,颜色特征在价值驱动的注意捕获中具有优势效应。     

On the value-dependence of value-driven attentional capture

Findings from an increasingly large number of studies have been used to argue that attentional capture can be dependent on the learned value of a stimulus, or value-driven. However, under certain circumstances attention can be biased to select stimuli that previously served as targets, independent of reward history. Value-driven attentional capture, as studied using the training phase-test phase design introduced by Anderson and colleagues, is widely presumed to reflect the combined influence of learned value and selection history. However, the degree to which attentional capture is at all dependent on value learning in this paradigm has recently been questioned. Support for value-dependence can be provided through one of two means: (1) greater attentional capture by prior targets following rewarded training than following unrewarded training, and (2) greater attentional capture by prior targets previously associated with high compared to low value. Using a variant of the original value-driven attentional capture paradigm, Sha and Jiang (Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 78, 403–414, 2016) failed to find evidence of either, and raised criticisms regarding the adequacy of evidence provided by prior studies using this particular paradigm. To address this disparity, here we provided a stringent test of the value-dependence hypothesis using the traditional value-driven attentional capture paradigm. With a sufficiently large sample size, value-dependence was observed based on both criteria, with no evidence of attentional capture without rewards during training. Our findings support the validity of the traditional value-driven attentional capture paradigm in measuring what its name purports to measure.     

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.     

Reduced Value-Driven Attentional Capture Among Children with ADHD Compared to Typically Developing Controls

The current study examined whether children with ADHD were more distracted by a stimulus previously associated with reward, but currently goal-irrelevant, than their typically-developing peers. In addition, we also probed the associated cognitive and motivational mechanisms by examining correlations with other behavioral tasks. Participants included 8–12 year-old children with ADHD (n = 30) and typically developing controls (n = 26). Children were instructed to visually search for color-defined targets and received monetary rewards for accurate responses. In a subsequent search task in which color was explicitly irrelevant, we manipulated whether a distractor item appeared in a previously reward-associated color. We examined whether children responded more slowly on trials with the previously-rewarded distractor present compared to trials without this distractor, a phenomenon referred to as value-driven attentional capture (VDAC), and whether children with and without ADHD differed in the extent to which they displayed VDAC. Correlations among working memory performance, immediate reward preference (delay discounting) and attentional capture were also examined. Children with ADHD were significantly less affected by the presence of the previously rewarded distractor than were control participants. Within the ADHD group, greater value-driven attentional capture was associated with poorer working memory. Although both ADHD and control participants were initially distracted by previously reward-associated stimuli, the magnitude of distraction was larger and persisted longer among control participants.     

The modulation of reward priority by top-down knowledge

Reward-associated features capture attention automatically and continue to do so even when the reward contingencies are removed. This profile has led to the hypothesis that rewards belong to a separate class of attentional biases that is neither typically top-down nor bottom-up. The goal of these experiments was to understand the degree to which top-down knowledge can modulate value-driven attentional capture within (a) the timecourse of a single trial and (b) when the reward contingencies change explicitly over trials. The results suggested that top-down knowledge does not affect the size of value-driven attentional capture within a single trial. There were clear top-down modulations in the magnitude of value-driven capture when reward contingencies explicitly changed, but the original reward associations continued to have a persistent bias on attention. These results contribute to a growing body of evidence that reward associations bias attention through mechanisms separate from other top-down and bottom-up attentional biases.     

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.     

Pavlovian reward learning underlies value driven attentional capture

Recent evidence shows that distractors that signal high compared to low reward availability elicit stronger attentional capture, even when this is detrimental for task-performance. This suggests that simply correlating stimuli with reward administration, rather than their instrumental relationship with obtaining reward, produces value-driven attentional capture. However, in previous studies, reward delivery was never response independent, as only correct responses were rewarded, nor was it completely task-irrelevant, as the distractor signaled the magnitude of reward that could be earned on that trial. In two experiments, we ensured that associative reward learning was completely response independent by letting participants perform a task at fixation, while high and low rewards were automatically administered following the presentation of task-irrelevant colored stimuli in the periphery (Experiment 1) or at fixation (Experiment 2). In a following non-reward test phase, using the additional singleton paradigm, the previously reward signaling stimuli were presented as distractors to assess truly task-irrelevant value driven attentional capture. The results showed that high compared to low reward-value associated distractors impaired performance, and thus captured attention more strongly. This suggests that genuine Pavlovian conditioning of stimulus-reward contingencies is sufficient to obtain value-driven attentional capture. Furthermore, value-driven attentional capture can occur following associative reward learning of temporally and spatially task-irrelevant distractors that signal the magnitude of available reward (Experiment 1), and is independent of training spatial shifts of attention towards the reward signaling stimuli (Experiment 2). This confirms and strengthens the idea that Pavlovian reward learning underlies value driven attentional capture.     

Valuable orientations capture attention

Visual attention has long been known to be drawn to stimuli that are physically salient or congruent with task-specific goals. Several recent studies have shown that attention is also captured by stimuli that are neither salient nor task relevant, but that are rendered in a colour that has previously been associated with reward. We investigated whether another feature dimension—orientation—can be associated with reward via learning and thereby elicit value-driven attentional capture. In a training phase, participants received a monetary reward for identifying the colour of Gabor patches exhibiting one of two target orientations. A subsequent test phase in which no reward was delivered required participants to search for Gabor patches exhibiting one of two spatial frequencies (orientation was now irrelevant to the task). Previously rewarded orientations robustly captured attention. We conclude that reward learning can imbue features other than colour—in this case, specific orientations—with persistent value.     

积极情绪反馈对注意捕获影响的实验研究

目的：研究采用“学习-测试”范式,通过3个实验探讨积极社会情绪反馈对注意捕获的影响。方法：实验1,在学习阶段做出反应后,分别给予积极情绪和中性情绪反馈,探讨积极情绪和中性情绪捕获注意的情况;实验2,学习阶段做出反应后,没有任何情绪反馈;实验3,改变学习阶段积极情绪和中性情绪反馈图片出现的频率,探讨图片出现频率对注意捕获的影响。结果：（1）与中性情绪相比,积极情绪捕获了较多注意（实验1）;（2）无情绪反馈时,经过多次练习的刺激作为干扰刺激也捕获到了注意（实验2）;（3）积极情绪影响刺激注意优先性的过程还受到积极情绪图片出现频率的影响（实验3）。结论：积极情绪捕获注意的机制中,也有自上而下目标驱动的机制在起作用;情绪图片出现的频率也会影响社社会情绪对注意的捕获。     

Value-driven attentional and oculomotor capture during goal-directed, unconstrained viewing

Covert shifts of attention precede and direct overt eye movements to stimuli that are task relevant or physically salient. A growing body of evidence suggests that the learned value of perceptual stimuli strongly influences their attentional priority. For example, previously rewarded but otherwise irrelevant and inconspicuous stimuli capture covert attention involuntarily. It is unknown, however, whether stimuli also draw eye movements involuntarily as a consequence of their reward history. Here, we show that previously rewarded but currently task-irrelevant stimuli capture both attention and the eyes. Value-driven oculomotor capture was observed during unconstrained viewing, when neither eye movements nor fixations were required, and was strongly related to individual differences in visual working memory capacity. The appearance of a reward-associated stimulus came to evoke pupil dilation over the course of training, which provides physiological evidence that the stimuli that elicit value-driven capture come to serve as reward-predictive cues. These findings reveal a close coupling of value-driven attentional capture and eye movements that has broad implications for theories of attention and reward learning.     

特征和位置信息在价值驱动注意捕获中的作用

本研究采用训练−测试范式考察颜色和位置信息在价值驱动注意捕获中的作用。实验1考察是否存在基于具体位置的价值驱动的注意捕获效应。在训练阶段, 被试对8个位置中两个位置出现的红色目标反应伴随着高奖励反馈, 而对另外两个位置出现的红色目标反应伴随着低奖励反馈, 其它4个位置为中性位置, 没有目标出现。在测试阶段, 一半试次中红色刺激作为分心物出现。结果发现, 只有当分心刺激出现在高奖励位置和两个高奖励位置之间的中性位置时才能够捕获注意; 实验2考察颜色和位置信息在价值驱动注意捕获中的交互作用。在训练阶段, 将颜色特征和位置信息联合起来进行学习。在测试阶段, 和高、低奖励相联结的颜色刺激各在1/3试次中作为分心物出现。结果发现, 只有当高奖励颜色出现在高奖励位置或出现在高奖励位置之间的中性位置时才能够捕获注意。研究结果表明：(1)位置联结的价值驱动的注意捕获效应能够泛化到特定邻近位置上; (2)个体在训练阶段将颜色和位置的联合特征与奖励建立联结, 训练阶段建立的联结不能泛化到部分特征上。价值驱动注意捕获效应的泛化具有选择性。     

Stimulus-driven and goal-driven effects on Pavlovian associative reward learning

It has been shown that pure Pavlovian associative reward learning can elicit value-driven attentional capture. However, in previous studies, task-irrelevant and response-independent reward-signalling stimuli hardly competed for visual selective attention. Here we put Pavlovian reward learning to the test by manipulating the extent to which bottom-up (Experiment 1) and top-down (Experiment 2) processes were involved in this type of learning. In Experiment 1, the stimulus, the colour of which signalled the magnitude of the reward given, was presented simultaneously with another randomly coloured stimulus, so that it did not capture attention in a stimulus-driven manner. In Experiment 2, observers performed an attentionally demanding RSVP-task at the centre of the screen to largely tax goal-driven attentional resources, while a task-irrelevant and response-independent stimulus in the periphery signalled the magnitude of the reward given. Both experiments showed value-driven attentional capture in a non-reward test phase, indicating that the reward-signalling stimuli were imbued with value during the Pavlovian reward conditioning phases. This suggests that pure Pavlovian reward conditioning can occur even when (1) competition prevents attention being automatically allocated to the reward-signalling stimulus in a stimulus-driven manner, and (2) attention is occupied by a demanding task, leaving little goal-driven attentional resources available to strategically select the reward-signalling stimulus. The observed value-driven attentional capture effects appeared to be similar for observers who could and could not explicitly report the stimulus–reward contingencies. Altogether, this study provides insight in the conditions under which mere stimulus–reward contingencies in the environment can be learned to affect future behaviour.     

Sensitivity to value-driven attention is predicted by how we learn from value

Reward learning is known to influence the automatic capture of attention. This study examined how the rate of learning, after high- or low-value reward outcomes, can influence future transfers into value-driven attentional capture. Participants performed an instrumental learning task that was directly followed by an attentional capture task. A hierarchical Bayesian reinforcement model was used to infer individual differences in learning from high or low reward. Results showed a strong relationship between high-reward learning rates (or the weight that is put on learning after a high reward) and the magnitude of attentional capture with high-reward colors. Individual differences in learning from high or low rewards were further related to performance differences when high- or low-value distractors were present. These findings provide novel insight into the development of value-driven attentional capture by showing how information updating after desired or undesired outcomes can influence future deployments of automatic attention.     

奖励影响注意选择的认知加工机制

奖励不仅能够塑造行为, 也能影响个体的内部心理过程。在注意选择过程中, 与奖励联结的刺激能够吸引注意资源。当目标刺激与奖励联结时, 能够易化注意选择过程; 当分心刺激与奖励联结时, 能够阻碍注意选择过程。可见, 奖励从不同角度对注意选择产生影响。奖励对注意选择的影响可能有其特有的认知机制, 并且奖励对注意的捕获效应受到许多因素的调节, 如奖励预测、工作记忆容量、人格特质及刺激的新异性。未来的研究应该尝试将奖励影响注意选择的研究成果应用于不良注意偏向临床干预的实践领域。     

Unconscious reward facilitates motion perceptual learning

Reward signal plays an important role in guiding human learning behaviour. Recent studies have provided evidence that reward signal modulates perceptual learning of basic visual features. Typically, the reward effects on perceptual learning were accompanied with consciously presented reward during the learning process. However, whether an unconsciously presented reward signal that minimizes the contribution of attentional and motivational factors can facilitate perceptual learning remains less well understood. We trained human subjects on a visual motion detection task and subliminally delivered a monetary reward for correct response during the training. The results showed significantly larger learning effect for high reward-associated motion direction than low reward-associated motion direction. Importantly, subjects could neither discriminate the relative values of the subliminal monetary reward nor correctly report the reward-direction contingencies. Our findings suggest that reward signal plays an important modulatory role in perceptual learning even if the magnitude of the reward was not consciously perceived.     

The attribution of value-based attentional priority in individuals with depressive symptoms

The capture of attention by stimuli previously associated with reward has been demonstrated across a wide range of studies. Such value-based attentional priority appears to be robust, and cases where reward feedback fails to modulate subsequent attention have not been reported. However, individuals differ in their sensitivity to external rewards, and such sensitivity is abnormally blunted in depression. Here, we show that depressive symptomology is accompanied by insensitivity to value-based attentional bias. We replicate attentional capture by stimuli previously associated with reward in a control sample and show that these same reward-related stimuli do not capture attention in individuals experiencing symptoms of depression. This sharp contrast in performance indicates that value-based attentional biases depend on the normal functioning of the brain's reward system and suggests that a failure to preferentially attend to reward-related information may play a role in the experience of depression.     

视觉注意捕获的快速脱离假说与信号抑制假说

快速脱离假说和信号抑制假说都是将传统的自下而上捕获和自上而下控制结合起来的混合模式假说。快速脱离假说认为突显干扰物总能在第一时间自下而上地捕获注意, 当突显干扰物与任务要求不符时, 注意会迅速脱离该位置。信号抑制假说认为突显干扰物都会产生“注意我”的信号, 当突显干扰物与任务要求不符时, 该信号会被自上而下地抑制以阻止注意捕获发生。前者相关的研究多采用空间线索提示范式和眼动脱离范式, 实验中被试采取独子探测策略, 而后者相关的研究多采用额外单例范式的变式, 实验中被试采取特征探测策略。未来研究应采用不同的刺激类型和实验方法进一步为两个假说提供证据支持, 同时要关注奖赏、训练等因素对“捕获-脱离”和“信号-抑制”的影响。     

Counterintuitive effects of negative social feedback on attention

Which stimuli we pay attention to is strongly influenced by learning. Stimuli previously associated with reward outcomes, such as money and food, and stimuli previously associated with aversive outcomes, such as monetary loss and electric shock, automatically capture attention. Social reward (happy expressions) can bias attention towards associated stimuli, but the role of negative social feedback in biasing attentional selection remains unexplored. On the one hand, negative social feedback often serves to discourage particular behaviours. If attentional selection can be curbed much like any other behavioural preference, we might expect stimuli associated with negative social feedback to be more readily ignored. On the other hand, if negative social feedback influences attention in the same way that other aversive outcomes do, such feedback might ironically bias attention towards the stimuli it is intended to discourage selection of. In the present study, participants first completed a training phase in which colour targets were associated with negative social feedback. Then, in a subsequent test phase, these same colour stimuli served as task-irrelevant distractors during a visual search task. The results strongly support the latter interpretation in that stimuli previously associated with negative social feedback impaired search performance.     

Engagement Attentional Bias toward Value-Associated Stimuli

Recent evidence has shown that learning to associate the value of behavioral outcomes with specific stimuli (i.e., value learning/association) can induce attentional capture in a subsequent visual search task. Here we investigated the component of attentional bias toward value-associated stimuli in the dot-probe paradigm. In the training phase, participants learned to associate nonsense shape outlines with monetary wins or losses. The shapes were then used as cues in an explicit no feedback dot-probe task. Probe appeared at either the salient (congruent trial) or nonsalient location (incongruent trial). Results indicate attentional bias toward value-associated stimuli, futher more this attentional bias is driven by an engagement bias.     

Monetary reward increases attentional effort in the flanker task

An important question is whether monetary reward can increase attentional effort in order to improve performance. Up to now, evidence for a positive answer is weak. Therefore, in the present study, the flanker task was used to examine this question further. Participants had to respond sooner than a certain deadline in a flanker task. One group of participants received a performance-contingent monetary reward, whereas the other group earned a fixed amount of money. As a result, monetary reward significantly improved performance in comparison with the control group. The analysis of speed-accuracy trade-off functions revealed that monetary reward increased attentional effort, leading to an enhanced quality of stimulus coding. Little evidence was found that reward also improved selective spatial attention.