Value-modulated attentional capture depends on awareness.

ABSTRACT: Value-modulated attentional capture (VMAC) refers to a process by which a priori neutral stimuli gain attentional priority when associated with reward, independently of goal or stimulus-driven attentional control. Although VMAC is considered an automatic and implicit process, the role of awareness of the stimulus-reward contingency on its learning process remains unclear at best. In a well-powered replication of a previous study, we found that VMAC is absent when participants are not explicitly informed about the stimulus-reward contingency in the pre-task instructions. In a second experiment, we show that when instructions are manipulated between groups, only the instructed group shows VMAC. Interestingly, although the no-instruction group did not show VMAC at the group level, participant

SUBMITTER: Garre-Frutos F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12627128 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature