Value-modulated oculomotor capture by task-irrelevant stimuli is a consequence of early competition on the saccade map
Open accessAbstract
Recent research has shown that reward learning can modulate oculomotor and attentional capture by physically salient and task-irrelevant distractor stimuli, even when directing gaze to those stimuli is directly counterproductive to receiving reward. This value-modulated oculomotor capture effect may reflect biased competition in the oculomotor system, such that the relationship between a stimulus feature and reward enhances that feature's representation on an internal priority map. However, it is also possible that this effect is a result of reward reducing the threshold for a saccade to be made to salient items. Here, we demonstrate value-modulated oculomotor capture when two reward-associated distractor stimuli are presented simultaneously in the same search display. The influence of reward on oculomotor capture is found to be most prominent at the shortest saccade latencies. We conclude that the value-modulated oculomotor capture effect is a consequence of biased competition on the saccade priority map and cannot be explained by a general reduction in saccadic threshold.
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Finding no consistent modulation in saccadic latencies due to reward-signaling distractors may suggest that reward simply lowers the threshold, which must be surpassed in order to elicit a saccade in a feature-specific manner.
“Finding no consistent modulation in saccadic latencies due to reward-signaling distractors may therefore suggest that reward simply lowers the threshold, which must be surpassed in order to elicit a saccade in a feature-specific manner (Failing et al., 2015; Pearson et al., 2016).”
From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Pearson et al., 2016
Failing and colleagues observed oculomotor capture of stimuli that signal high reward relative to those that signaled low reward but no difference in saccadic latencies.
“Failing and colleagues observed oculomotor capture of stimuli that signal high reward relative to those that signaled low reward but no difference in saccadic latencies (Failing et al., 2015; Pearson et al., 2016; see also Theeuwes & Belopolsky, 2012).”
From Selection history: How reward modulates selectivity of visual attention. (2018) · cites this paper as Pearson et al., 2016
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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
“…studies, fast saccades initiated soon after stimulus onset are more likely to be directed toward the salient stimulus (Theeuwes et al., 1998, 1999; van Zoest et al., 2004) or the stimulus associated with reward (Failing et al., 2015; Pearson et al., 2016) or threat (Nissens et al., 2016).”
BackgroundSelf-citation
- Authors
- Pearson, D., Osborn, R., Whitford, T. J., Failing, M., Theeuwes, J., & Le Pelley, M. E.
- Affiliations
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Pearson, Daniel
- Venue
- Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics
- Published
- 2016-05-16
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 2226-2240
- ISSN
- 1943-3921 (ISSN-L)
- 1943-393X
- OpenAlex
- W2403831445
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 7
- FWCI
- 4.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Attention Perception & Psychophysics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Research Council (ERC-2012-AdG-323413)
- Australian Research Council (FT100100260)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
- Keywords
- oculomotor capture, reward learning, task-irrelevant distractors, biased competition, saccade latency, visual search, attentional capture
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Eye Movements, Female, Humans, Male, Reaction Time, Reward, Saccades, Young Adult
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