McCoy Brónagh, Theeuwes Jan
Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Vision Res. 2018 Jan;142:27-39. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2017.10.003. Epub 2017 Nov 2.
Recent research on the impact of location-based reward on attentional orienting has indicated that reward factors play an influential role in spatial priority maps. The current study investigated whether and how reward associations based on spatial location translate from overt eye movements to covert attention. If reward associations can be tied to locations in space, and if overt and covert attention rely on similar overlapping neuronal populations, then both overt and covert attentional measures should display similar spatial-based reward learning. Our results suggest that location- and reward-based changes in one attentional domain do not lead to similar changes in the other. Specifically, although we found similar improvements at differentially rewarded locations during overt attentional learning, this translated to the least improvement at a highly rewarded location during covert attention. We interpret this as the result of an increased motivational link between the high reward location and the trained eye movement response acquired during learning, leading to a relative slowing during covert attention when the eyes remained fixated and the saccade response was suppressed. In a second experiment participants were not required to keep fixated during the covert attention task and we no longer observed relative slowing at the high reward location. Furthermore, the second experiment revealed no covert spatial priority of rewarded locations. We conclude that the transfer of location-based reward associations is intimately linked with the reward-modulated motor response employed during learning, and alternative attentional and task contexts may interfere with learned spatial priorities.
近期关于基于位置的奖励对注意力定向影响的研究表明，奖励因素在空间优先图谱中发挥着重要作用。本研究调查了基于空间位置的奖励关联是否以及如何从显性眼动转化为隐性注意力。如果奖励关联能够与空间中的位置相关联，并且如果显性和隐性注意力依赖于相似的重叠神经元群体，那么显性和隐性注意力测量都应该显示出类似的基于空间的奖励学习。我们的结果表明，一个注意力领域中基于位置和奖励的变化并不会导致另一个领域出现类似的变化。具体而言，虽然我们在显性注意力学习过程中发现在不同奖励位置有类似的改善，但这在隐性注意力过程中转化为在高奖励位置改善最少。我们将此解释为高奖励位置与学习过程中获得的经过训练的眼动反应之间的动机联系增强的结果，导致当眼睛保持注视且扫视反应被抑制时，隐性注意力过程中相对变慢。在第二个实验中，参与者在隐性注意力任务期间不需要保持注视，我们不再在高奖励位置观察到相对变慢。此外，第二个实验没有揭示奖励位置的隐性空间优先性。我们得出结论，基于位置的奖励关联的转移与学习过程中使用的奖励调节运动反应密切相关，并且其他注意力和任务背景可能会干扰所学的空间优先性。
