Context modulation of learned attention deployment.

Eye tracking data and statistical analysis of: Uengoer, M., Pearce, J. M., Lachnit, H., & Koenig, S. (2017). Context modulation of learned attention deploymentReward draws the eye, uncertainty holds the eye: Associative learning modulates distractor interference in visual search. Learning & Behavior. doi:10.3758/s13420-017-0277-y Abstract: In three experiments, we investigated the contextual control of attention in human discrimination learning. In each experiment, participants initially received discrimination training in which the cues from Dimension Awere relevant in Context 1 but irrelevant in Context 2, whereas the cues from Dimension B were irrelevant in Context 1 but relevant in Context 2. In Experiment 1, the same cues from each dimension were used in Contexts 1 and 2, whereas in Experiments 2 and 3, the cues from each dimension were changed across contexts. In each experiment, participants were subsequently shifted to a transfer discrimination involving novel cues from either dimension, to assess the contextual control of attention. In Experiment 1, measures of eye gaze during the transfer discrimination revealed that Dimension A received more attention than Dimension B in Context 1, whereas the reverse occurred in Context 2. Corresponding results indicating the contextual control of attention were found in Experiments 2 and 3, in which we used the speed of learning (associability) as an indirect marker of learned attentional changes. Implications of our results for current theories of learning and attention are discussed. Please see related identifier 10.5281/zenodo.583223 for analysis of: Koenig, S., Uengoer, M., & Lachnit, H. (2017). Attentional bias for uncertain cues of shock in human fear conditioning: Evidence for attentional learning theory. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00266. Please see related identifier 10.5281/zenodo.583233 for analysis of: Koenig, S., Kadel, H., Uengoer, M., Schubö, A., & Lachnit, H. (2017). Reward Draws the Eye, Uncertainty Holds the Eye: Associative Learning Modulates Distractor Interference in Visual Search. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience,11, 128. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00128