Distractors associated with reward break through the focus of attention.

Jaap Munneke,Jan Theeuwes,Artem V Belopolsky

doi:10.3758/s13414-016-1075-x

Jaap Munneke, Jan Theeuwes + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-016-1075-x

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Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the conditions in which rewarded distractors have the ability to capture attention, even when attention is directed toward the target location. Experiment 1 showed that when the probability of obtaining reward was high, all salient distractors captured attention, even when they were not associated with reward. This effect may have been caused by participants suboptimally using the 100%-valid endogenous location cue. Experiment 2 confirmed this result by showing that salient distractors did not capture attention in a block in which no reward was expected. In Experiment 3, the probability of the presence of a distractor was high, but it only signaled reward availability on a low number of trials. The results showed that those very infrequent distractors that signaled reward captured attention, whereas the distractors (both frequent and infrequent ones) not associated with reward were simply ignored. The latter experiment indicates that even when attention is directed to a location in space, stimuli associated with reward break through the focus of attention, but equally salient stimuli not associated with reward do not.

Highlights

In the present study, we investigated the conditions in which rewarded distractors have the ability to capture attention, even when attention is directed toward the target location
The strict dichotomy of attentional control mechanisms was called into question when converging evidence was provided for a third category of attentional control, termed Bselection history^ (Awh, Belopolsky, & Theeuwes, 2012)
We investigated whether attentional capture by valued distractors occurs when attention is fully focused on the target location by an endogenous cue

Summary

Introduction

We investigated the conditions in which rewarded distractors have the ability to capture attention, even when attention is directed toward the target location. In a subsequent testing phase, in which rewards are no longer delivered, the crucial observation is that when the rewarded stimulus is part of the search display (but not the target) it captures attention, even when it is a nonsalient distractor (Anderson et al, 2011; Anderson & Yantis, 2012; Failing & Theeuwes, 2014; Wang, Yu, & Zhou, 2013) This phenomenon is known as value-driven attentional capture, and these effects are taken as evidence that stimuli that have been previously rewarded attract attention because of their learned associated value

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