PMID- 32366722 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20201120 LR - 20210110 IS - 1529-2401 (Electronic) IS - 0270-6474 (Print) IS - 0270-6474 (Linking) VI - 40 IP - 26 DP - 2020 Jun 24 TI - Previously Reward-Associated Stimuli Capture Spatial Attention in the Absence of Changes in the Corresponding Sensory Representations as Measured with MEG. PG - 5033-5050 LID - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1172-19.2020 [doi] AB - Studies of selective attention typically consider the role of task goals or physical salience, but attention can also be captured by previously reward-associated stimuli, even if they are currently task irrelevant. One theory underlying this value-driven attentional capture (VDAC) is that reward-associated stimulus representations undergo plasticity in sensory cortex, thereby automatically capturing attention during early processing. To test this, we used magnetoencephalography to probe whether stimulus location and identity representations in sensory cortex are modulated by reward learning. We furthermore investigated the time course of these neural effects, and their relationship to behavioral VDAC. Male and female human participants first learned stimulus-reward associations. Next, we measured VDAC in a separate task by presenting these stimuli in the absence of reward contingency and probing their effects on the processing of separate target stimuli presented at different time lags. Using time-resolved multivariate pattern analysis, we found that learned value modulated the spatial selection of previously rewarded stimuli in posterior visual and parietal cortex from approximately 260 ms after stimulus onset. This value modulation was related to the strength of participants' behavioral VDAC effect and persisted into subsequent target processing. Importantly, learned value did not influence cortical signatures of early processing (i.e., earlier than approximately 200 ms); nor did it influence the decodability of stimulus identity. Our results suggest that VDAC is underpinned by learned value signals that modulate spatial selection throughout posterior visual and parietal cortex. We further suggest that VDAC can occur in the absence of changes in early visual processing in cortex.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Attention is our ability to focus on relevant information at the expense of irrelevant information. It can be affected by previously learned but currently irrelevant stimulus-reward associations, a phenomenon termed "value-driven attentional capture" (VDAC). The neural mechanisms underlying VDAC remain unclear. It has been speculated that reward learning induces visual cortical plasticity, which modulates early visual processing to capture attention. Although we find that learned value modulates spatial signals in visual cortical areas, an effect that correlates with VDAC, we find no relevant signatures of changes in early visual processing in cortex. CI - Copyright (c) 2020 Tankelevitch et al. FAU - Tankelevitch, Lev AU - Tankelevitch L AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-1286-5194 AD - Department of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3UD, United Kingdom. AD - Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, United Kingdom. FAU - Spaak, Eelke AU - Spaak E AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-2018-3364 AD - Department of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3UD, United Kingdom. AD - Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, United Kingdom. AD - Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. FAU - Rushworth, Matthew F S AU - Rushworth MFS AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-5578-9884 AD - Department of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3UD, United Kingdom. AD - Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, United Kingdom. FAU - Stokes, Mark G AU - Stokes MG AD - Department of Experimental Psychology, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3UD, United Kingdom mark.stokes@psy.ox.ac.uk. AD - Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, United Kingdom. LA - eng GR - WT_/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom GR - 203139/Z/16/Z/WT_/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom GR - BB/M010732/1/BB_/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't DEP - 20200504 PL - United States TA - J Neurosci JT - The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience JID - 8102140 SB - IM MH - Adult MH - Attention/*physiology MH - Female MH - Humans MH - Learning/*physiology MH - Magnetoencephalography MH - Male MH - Neuronal Plasticity/*physiology MH - *Reward MH - Somatosensory Cortex/*physiology MH - Young Adult PMC - PMC7314418 OTO - NOTNLM OT - attention OT - decoding OT - learning OT - magnetoencephalography OT - reward OT - value EDAT- 2020/05/06 06:00 MHDA- 2020/11/21 06:00 PMCR- 2020/06/24 CRDT- 2020/05/06 06:00 PHST- 2019/05/15 00:00 [received] PHST- 2020/03/26 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2020/03/31 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2020/05/06 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2020/11/21 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2020/05/06 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2020/06/24 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - JNEUROSCI.1172-19.2020 [pii] AID - JN-RM-1172-19 [pii] AID - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1172-19.2020 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - J Neurosci. 2020 Jun 24;40(26):5033-5050. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1172-19.2020. Epub 2020 May 4.