Value-driven attentional capture in neglect.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Neurology

Background:

• Motivational cues like rewards influence attentional selection in healthy individuals and patients with neglect.
• The precise neural mechanisms linking reward-based attention and spatial orienting, especially in neglect, remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how value-based attentional priority modulates spatial orienting in patients with neglect after right hemispheric stroke.
• To examine the interference of reward-associated distractors on attentional reorienting in neglect.

Main Methods:

• A visual search paradigm was employed with spatial cues (valid/invalid) and reward-associated distractors.
• Reinforcement training was used to establish reward values for distractors.
• Voxelwise anatomical lesion analysis was performed on right-hemisphere stroke patients.

Main Results:

• Learned reward values of distractors interfered with spatial reorienting, particularly towards the neglected left side.
• Reward-associated distractors in the contralesional field most strongly impeded target detection on that side.
• Damage to the right angular gyrus, lateral occipital, and inferior temporal areas correlated with stronger value-driven attentional effects.

Conclusions:

• Visual stimuli associated with rewards gain higher attentional priority, overriding spatial biases in neglect and interfering with contralesional orienting.
• Reward signals may bias neural activity independently of conscious control, potentially via a common priority map.
• Findings offer insights into attention models and suggest potential rehabilitation strategies for attentional deficits.