Punishment-related memory-guided attention: Neural dynamics of perceptual modulation

Abstract

Remembering the outcomes of past experiences allows us to generate future expectations and shape selection in the long-term. A growing number of studies has shown that learned positive reward values impact spatial memory-based attentional biases on perception. However, whether memory-driven attentional biases extend to punishment-related values has received comparatively less attention. Here, we manipulated whether recent spatial contextual memories became associated with successful avoidance of punishment (potential monetary loss). Behavioral and electrophysiological measures were collected from 27 participants during a subsequent memory-based attention task, in which we tested for the effect of punishment avoidance associations. Punishment avoidance significantly amplified effects of spatial contextual memories on visual search processes within natural scenes. Compared to non-associated scenes, contextual memories paired with punishment avoidance lead to faster responses to targets presented at remembered locations. Event-related potentials elicited by target stimuli revealed that acquired motivational value of specific spatial locations, by virtue of their association with past avoidance of punishment, dynamically affected neural signatures of early visual processing (indexed by larger P1 and earlier N1 potentials) and target selection (as indicated by reduced N2pc potentials). The present results extend our understanding of how memory, attention, and punishment-related mechanisms interact to optimize perceptual decision in real world environments.

Premembering Experience: A Hierarchy of Time-Scales for Proactive Attention

“…Even a single association with a modest monetary gain or avoidance of loss during the last learning block leads to performance improvements in the subsequent attention-orienting session, even though reward is irrelevant to the orienting task. Target stimuli during the orienting task elicit larger visual P1 potentials when previously associated with reward or punishment avoidance (Doallo et al., 2013, Suárez-Suárez et al., 2019).…”

Mapping Dynamic Interactions Among Cognitive Biases in Depression

“…Participants were significantly faster at detecting the target object within familiar versus novel scenes, indicating that memories can be used to guide attention to a target’s expected location in complex visual scenes (Summerfield et al, 2006). A recent study modified a similar paradigm to study whether punishment-related memories likewise drive attention allocation (Suárez-Suárez, Rodríguez Holguín, Cadaveira, Nobre, & Doallo, 2019). Contextual memories paired with punishment avoidance led to faster responses to targets presented at remembered locations.…”

Gains and Losses affect Learning Differentially at Low and High Attentional Load

“…Notably, such a benefit is not restricted to threat-related aversive stimuli but can also be seen in faster response times to stimuli associated with the loss of money, which is a secondary 'learned' reward (Bucker & Theeuwes, 2016;Small et al, 2005;Suarez-Suarez, Holguin, Cadaueira, Nobre, & Doallo, 2019). For example, in an object-in-scene learning task attentional orienting to the incorrect location was faster when subjects lost money for the object at that location in prior encounters compared to a neutral or positive outcome (Doallo, Patai, & Nobre, 2013;Suarez-Suarez et al, 2019). Similarly, when subjects are required to discriminate a peripherally presented target object they detect the stimulus faster following a short (20ms) spatial pre-cue when the cued stimulus is linked to a monetary loss (Bucker & Theeuwes, 2016).…”