Common Priority Map for Selection History, Reward and Emotion in the Oculomotor System
Abstract
In natural scenes, many objects compete for visual selection. However, it is not always clear why certain objects win this competition. I will demonstrate that the eye movement system lives in a constant state of competition among different oculomotor programs. This competition is not limited to the competition between the current goals of the observer and salient objects in the environment but incorporates independent influences from memory, reward, and emotional systems. These involuntary and automatic biases often overcome the goal-directed selection and expose severe limits in goal-driven control. There is also a striking similarity in the way that these very different sources of bias activate the oculomotor system and compete for representation. The inputs from various information sources are integrated in the common map in the oculomotor system for the sole purpose of improving the efficiency of oculomotor selection.
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Both reward and negative valence may influence attentional selection via an at least partially overlapping mechanism.
“The similarities between the studies concerned with reward and those concerned with negative valence suggest that both factors may influence attentional selection via an, at least partially, overlapping mechanism (for a similar claim, see Belopolsky, 2015; Schmidt et al., 2015b).”
From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Belopolsky, 2015
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Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention.
Failing, M., & Theeuwes, J. (2018) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-017-1380-y · Cited by 345 · see citing works
“Alternatively, reward may give an independent boost to the saccade program to the distractor’s location without affecting the lateral inhibition of other stimuli (i.e., the target; Belopolsky, 2015).”
BackgroundPearson, D., Osborn, R., Whitford, T. J., Failing, M., Theeuwes, J., & Le Pelley, M. E. (2016) · Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/s13414-016-1135-2 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
- Authors
- Belopolsky, A. V.
- Affiliations
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Belopolsky, Artem V.
- ORCID
- Belopolsky, Artem V.
- Venue
- Perception
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-08
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 8-9
- Pages
- 920-933
- ISSN
- 0301-0066 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-4233
- OpenAlex
- W2305250356
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 0.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Perception (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- oculomotor system, eye movements, visual selection, selection history, reward, emotions, memory, goal-directed control, salient objects, information integration
- MeSH terms
- Arousal, Attention, Choice Behavior, Emotions, Eye Movements, Fixation, Ocular, Humans, Orientation, Psychophysics, Mental Recall, Reward, Visual Perception, Repetition Priming
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