Focusing perceptual attention in one modality constrains subsequent learning in another modality

Abstract

Attention is central to learning stimulus-outcome relationships. In addition to its role in learning, attention has been conceptualized as a sensory filter that improves perception. It remains unexplored whether these two aspects of attention interact at the behavioral and neural level. Thus, we investigated how learning novel stimulus-outcome associations in a multi-modal environment is influenced by the degree to which perceptual attention has been focused onto a single modality. We trained head-fixed rats to discriminate compound auditory-visual stimuli using one modality and then reduced stimulus discriminability in that modality. We observed perceptual learning and increased EEG Granger causality between frontal cortex and the behaviorally relevant sensory cortex, suggesting that perceptual attention was engaged. We then presented novel and easily discriminable stimuli in both modalities and measured outcome-driven learning to discriminate stimuli in the other modality. We observed slowed learning after engaging perceptual attention onto the previously relevant modality by requiring practice with difficult discriminations. This result could not be explained by changes in nonattentional factors, such as arousal (measured with pupillometry), number of rewards received, or shifted response criterion (measured using response velocity). Our work demonstrates that perceptual attention constrains outcome-based learning by changing the strength of modality-specific cortico-cortical interactions.