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Reward-based transfer from bottom-up to top-down search tasks.
11Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis.
Psychological Science
|December 17, 2013
Summary
Reward learning in one visual search task can improve performance in another, demonstrating cross-task reward effects. This suggests reward information creates an integrated priority map guiding attention.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Visual Attention
- Reward Processing
Background:
- Reward influences attentional selection within a task, with effects persisting even after reward removal.
- It is unclear if reward-based attentional effects transfer across different types of tasks and attentional modes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if reward-based contingency learned in a bottom-up visual search task transfers to a top-down search task.
- To explore the mechanism underlying this potential transfer of reward effects.
Main Methods:
- Participants completed a pop-out search task (bottom-up) associated with varying reward levels.
- Following this, they performed a conjunction search task (top-down).
- Search efficiency and the nature of reward influence on target salience and distractor filtering were analyzed.
Main Results:
- A reward-related benefit from the initial pop-out search task transferred to the conjunction search task.
- Participants showed improved efficiency for targets previously linked to higher rewards.
- Reward history enhanced target salience and distractor filtering, modulated by feature overlap.
Conclusions:
- Reward-based learning can transfer across different attentional modes (bottom-up to top-down).
- These findings support the existence of an integrated reward-based priority map guiding both attentional processes.
