Shaping Attention With Reward: Effects of Reward on Space- and Object-Based Selection
Open accessAbstract
The contribution of rewarded actions to automatic attentional selection remains obscure. We hypothesized that some forms of automatic orienting, such as object-based selection, can be completely abandoned in favor of a reward-maximizing strategy. In the two experiments reported here, we presented identical visual stimuli to observers while manipulating what was being rewarded (targets in different locations from the cue or in random object locations) and the type of reward received (money or points). We found that reward alone, not the objects, guides attentional selection and thus entirely predicts behavior. These results suggest that guidance of selective attention, although automatic, is flexible and can be adjusted in accordance with external nonsensory reward-based factors.
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A series of studies has suggested that reward leads to the complete abolition of object-based attentional guidance.
“a series of studies has suggested that reward leads to the complete abolition of object-based attentional guidance (Lee & Shomstein, 2013; Shomstein & Johnson, 2013).”
From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Shomstein & Johnson, 2013
Expectations can influence working memory, long-term memory, and attentional capture, biasing them toward expected stimuli.
“Expectations can influence working memory, long-term memory, and attentional capture, biasing them toward expected stimuli (Bollinger, Rubens, Zanto, & Gazzaley, 2010;Jiao, Du, He & Zhang, 2015;Shomstein & Johnson, 2013).”
From Optimizing performance through intrinsic motivation and attention for learning: The OPTIMAL theory of motor learning (2016) · cites this paper as Shomstein & Johnson, 2013
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- Authors
- Shomstein, S., & Johnson, J.
- Affiliations
- George Washington University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Shomstein, Sarah
- ORCID
- Shomstein, Sarah
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-10-11
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2369-2378
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- PMC
- PMC4191974
- OpenAlex
- W2139316147
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 4.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- National Eye Institute (R21EY021644)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Keywords
- attentional orienting, reward, automatic attention, selective attention, monetary rewards, visual attention
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention, Cues, Humans, Reward, Space Perception
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