Assessing the role of accuracy-based feedback in value-driven attentional capture

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Visual Perception

Background:

• Value-driven attentional capture (VDAC) describes how objects previously associated with reward capture attention during visual search.
• Empirical evidence is conflicting regarding whether learned monetary reward associations are essential for VDAC, as similar effects have been observed with accuracy-based feedback alone.
• This controversy highlights unresolved questions about the mechanisms underlying attentional capture.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate attentional capture by unrewarded targets following accuracy-based training.
• To replicate previous findings of VDAC-like effects driven solely by accuracy feedback.
• To test a hypothesis explaining discrepancies in the literature regarding accuracy-based feedback and VDAC.

Main Methods:

• A Registered Report design was employed for empirical investigation.
• Participants underwent a VDAC training phase using accuracy-based feedback.
• Replication of findings in an independent sample was conducted.

Main Results:

• New empirical evidence demonstrated attentional capture by unrewarded former targets after limited accuracy-based training.
• Replication efforts in an independent sample were highly successful.
• No evidence was found supporting a specific methodological difference as the cause of inconsistencies in prior literature.

Conclusions:

• Accuracy-based feedback alone can induce VDAC-like effects, challenging the necessity of direct monetary reward associations.
• The successful replication strengthens the evidence for attentional capture by previously trained, unrewarded targets.
• These findings reinvigorate the debate on the influence of selection history in value-driven attentional capture.