PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Motivationally salient stimuli, such as those associated with reward, can automatically gain attentional prioritisation - even when individuals are motivated to ignore such stimuli. This \'attentional bias for reward\' has often been interpreted as evidence for involuntary Pavlovian \'sign tracking\' behaviour. The prioritisation of reward-signalling distractors may additionally reflect a drive to gain information about the state of the world, irrespective of the particular reward that is being signalled. In the current study we assessed whether forewarning participants on each trial as to the upcoming features of a distractor would reduce reward-related attentional capture. This manipulation reduces the information provided by the distractor, without affecting the magnitude of the signalled reward. Using eye tracking in Experiment 1, we found that reward-related attentional capture was virtually eliminated when participants were informed of the upcoming distractor colour (relative to the baseline condition when no information was provided). In Experiment 2, using a response-time version of the task, we again found a significant reduction in reward-related attentional capture when participants received information about the colour of an upcoming distractor, or information about the value of the upcoming reward. Finally, in Experiment 3 we assessed whether participants were using the pre-trial information to strategically inhibit attention to the upcoming distractor colour. The results of these experiments are discussed within the context of information-seeking accounts of reward-related attentional capture effects.
摘要：
动机突出的刺激，比如那些与奖励相关的，可以自动获得注意力优先顺序-即使个人有动机忽略这些刺激。这种“对奖励的注意偏见”通常被解释为非自愿的巴甫洛夫式“符号跟踪”行为的证据。奖励信号干扰因素的优先级可能还反映了获取有关世界状态信息的动力，不管正在发出的特定奖励是什么。在当前的研究中，我们评估了在每个试验中警告参与者关于分心者即将出现的特征是否会减少与奖励相关的注意力捕获。这种操纵减少了干扰者提供的信息，而不影响信号奖励的大小。在实验1中使用眼动追踪，我们发现，当参与者被告知即将到来的干扰者颜色（相对于未提供信息时的基线条件）时，奖励相关的注意力捕获实际上被消除了。在实验2中，使用任务的响应时间版本，我们再次发现，当参与者收到有关即将到来的干扰者的颜色的信息时，奖励相关的注意力捕获显着减少，或有关即将到来的奖励价值的信息。最后,在实验3中,我们评估了参与者是否利用试验前的信息从策略上抑制了对即将出现的干扰物颜色的关注.这些实验的结果在与奖励相关的注意力捕获效应的信息寻求账户的背景下进行了讨论。
