Neural correlates of value‐driven spatial orienting

Abstract

AbstractReward learning has been shown to habitually guide overt spatial attention to specific regions of a scene. However, the neural mechanisms that support this bias are unknown. In the present study, participants learned to orient themselves to a particular quadrant of a scene (a high‐value quadrant) to maximize monetary gains. This learning was scene‐specific, with the high‐value quadrant varying across different scenes. During a subsequent test phase, participants were faster at identifying a target if it appeared in the high‐value quadrant (valid), and initial saccades were more likely to be made to the high‐value quadrant. fMRI analyses during the test phase revealed learning‐dependent priority signals in the caudate tail, superior colliculus, frontal eye field, anterior cingulate cortex, and insula, paralleling findings concerning feature‐based, value‐driven attention. In addition, ventral regions typically associated with scene selection and spatial information processing, including the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and temporo‐occipital cortex, were also implicated. Taken together, our findings offer new insights into the neural architecture subserving value‐driven attention, both extending our understanding of nodes in the attention network previously implicated in feature‐based, value‐driven attention and identifying a ventral network of brain regions implicated in reward's influence on scene‐dependent spatial orienting.