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Cited by 118Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesVisual perception and processing mechanisms

The Role of Dopamine in Value-Based Attentional Orienting

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Anderson, Brian A., Kuwabara, Hiroto, Wong, Dean F., Gean, Emily G., Rahmim, Arman, Brašić, James R., George, Noble, Frolov, Boris +2 more·2016·Current Biology
DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.062PMC PMC4767677
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Abstract

Reward learning gives rise to strong attentional biases. Stimuli previously associated with reward automatically capture visual attention regardless of intention. Dopamine signaling within the ventral striatum plays an important role in reward learning, representing the expected reward initiated by a cue. How dopamine and the striatum may be involved in maintaining behaviors that have been shaped by reward learning, even after reward expectancies have changed, is less well understood. Nonspecific measures of brain activity have implicated the striatum in value-based attention. However, the neurochemical mechanisms underlying the attentional priority of learned reward cues remain unexplored. Here, we investigated the contribution of dopamine to value-based attention using positron emission tomography (PET) with [(11)C]raclopride. We show that, in the explicit absence of reward, the magnitude of attentional capture by previously reward-associated but currently task-irrelevant distractors is correlated across individuals with changes in available D2/D3 dopamine receptors (presumably due to intrasynaptic dopamine) linked to distractor processing within the right caudate and posterior putamen. Our findings provide direct evidence linking dopamine signaling within the striatum to the involuntary orienting of attention, and specifically to the attention-grabbing quality of learned reward cues. These findings also shed light on the neurochemical basis of individual susceptibility to value-driven attentional capture, which is known to play a role in addiction. More broadly, the present study highlights the value and feasibility of using PET to relate changes in the release of a neurotransmitter to learning-dependent changes in healthy adults.

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  • Anderson, Kuwabara, et al. (2016) found differential dopaminergic activity for high and low reward trials only in the first block of their test session.

    “This prediction indeed ties in well with Anderson, Kuwabara, et al. (2016), who found differential dopaminergic activity for high and low reward trials only in the first block of their test session.”

    From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Anderson, Kuwabara, et al. (2016)

    The Results report that dopamine-release differences across scans correlated with attentional bias measured in the first epoch of the test phase; correlations using later epochs were not significant. But dopamine release was measured over a broad timescale by comparing distractor-present and distractor-absent scans, not by comparing high- and low-reward trials within the first block. The high-versus-low comparison concerned behavioral response times, not dopamine activity. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Dopamine has been implicated to convey reward signal from brain areas concerned with reward to areas that code for selection priority.

    “Dopamine has been implicated to convey such information (Anderson, Kuwabara, et al., 2016; Anderson, Chiu, et al., 2017)”

    From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Anderson, Kuwabara, et al., 2016

    The Summary and Discussion (page not provided) link striatal dopamine signaling to reward learning and attentional priority for previously rewarded cues. They do not show dopamine conveying a reward signal from reward-processing areas to separate areas that code selection priority; the reported finding is a correlation between dopamine release in the caudate and putamen and attentional orienting. (LLM, conf=0.83)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Because dopamine has been shown to be modulated for stimuli previously associated with reward even when reward is no longer given, it seems unlikely that it merely reflects the hedonic value of reward.

    “Because dopamine has been shown to be modulated for stimuli previously associated with reward even when reward is no longer given (i.e., during a test session; see Anderson, Kuwabara, et al., 2016), it seems nonetheless unlikely that it merely reflects the hedonic value of reward.”

    From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Anderson, Kuwabara, et al., 2016

  • The ability to resist attentional capture by previously reward-associated distractors was associated with suppression of dopamine release.

    “Likewise, the ability to resist attentional capture by such distractors was associated with the suppression of dopamine release.”

    From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Anderson, Kuwabara, et al., 2016

  • Attentional capture by previously reward-associated distractors positively correlated with release of dopamine within the caudate and posterior putamen.

    “Even stronger evidence comes from a recent positron emission tomography study which found that attentional capture by previously reward-associated distractors was positively correlated with the release of dopamine within the caudate and posterior putamen (Anderson, Kuwabara, et al., 2016).”

    From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Anderson, Kuwabara, et al., 2016

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Research works printed but not linked: 37

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Authors
Anderson, B. A., Kuwabara, H., Wong, D. F., Gean, E. G., Rahmim, A., Brašić, J. R., George, N., Frolov, B., Courtney, S. M., & Yantis, S.
Affiliations
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
  • Kennedy Krieger Institute (US)
Corresponding author
Anderson, Brian A.
ORCID
Venue
Current Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2016-02
Volume
26
Issue
4
Pages
550-555
ISSN
0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.062
PMC
PMC4767677
OpenAlex
W2255293685
Cited by
118
References
12
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 1
FWCI
10.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Current Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (1s10rr017219-01a1)
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA013165, F31DA033754)
  • National Center for Research Resources (S10-RR017219, S10RR023623)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
Keywords
dopamine, attentional capture, reward learning, ventral striatum, D2/D3 dopamine receptors, caudate nucleus, putamen, individual differences, addiction, reward expectancy, distractor processing
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Attention, Dopamine, Female, Humans, Learning, Male, Orientation, Reward, Young Adult

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