scholarly journals Acquisition and Use of ‘Priors’ in Autism: Typical in Deciding Where to Look, Atypical in Deciding What Is There

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredrik Allenmark ◽  
Zhuanghua Shi ◽  
Rasmus L. Pistorius ◽  
Laura A. Theisinger ◽  
Nikolaos Koutsouleris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Attention Allocation ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Subsequent Target

AbstractIndividuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are thought to under-rely on prior knowledge in perceptual decision-making. This study examined whether this applies to decisions of attention allocation, of relevance for ‘predictive-coding’ accounts of ASD. In a visual search task, a salient but task-irrelevant distractor appeared with higher probability in one display half. Individuals with ASD learned to avoid ‘attentional capture’ by distractors in the probable region as effectively as control participants—indicating typical priors for deploying attention. However, capture by a ‘surprising’ distractor at an unlikely location led to greatly slowed identification of a subsequent target at that location—indicating that individuals with ASD attempt to control surprise (unexpected attentional capture) by over-regulating parameters in post-selective decision-making.

scholarly journals Intense Physical Exercise Reduces Overt Attentional Capture

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 559-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesc Llorens ◽  
Daniel Sanabria ◽  
Florentino Huertas ◽  
Enrique Molina ◽  
Simon Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Physical Exercise ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Abrupt Onset ◽  
Acute Bout ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Activity Condition ◽  
Rest Activity

The abrupt onset of a visual stimulus typically results in overt attentional capture, which can be quantified by saccadic eye movements. Here, we tested whether attentional capture following onset of task-irrelevant visual stimuli (new object) is reduced after a bout of intense physical exercise. A group of participants performed a visual search task in two different activity conditions: rest, without any prior effort, and effort, immediately after an acute bout of intense exercise. The results showed that participants exhibited (1) slower reaction time of the first saccade toward the target when a new object was simultaneously presented in the visual field, but only in the rest activity condition, and (2) more saccades to the new object in the rest activity condition than in the effort activity condition. We suggest that immediately after an acute bout of effort, participants improved their ability to inhibit irrelevant (distracting) stimuli.

scholarly journals Autistic Traits in the Neurotypical Population do not Predict Increased Response Conservativeness in Perceptual Decision Making

Perception ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 1081-1096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelo Pirrone ◽  
Wen Wen ◽  
Sheng Li ◽  
Daniel H. Baker ◽  
Elizabeth Milne
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Decision Criterion ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Coherent Motion ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Perceptual Differences ◽  
Adults And Children

Recent research has shown that adults and children with autism spectrum disorders have a more conservative decision criterion in perceptual decision making compared to neurotypical individuals, meaning that autistic participants prioritise accuracy over speed of a decision. Here, we test whether autistic traits in the neurotypical population correlate with increased response conservativeness. We employed three different tasks; for two tasks we recruited participants from China ( N = 39) and for one task from the United Kingdom ( N = 37). Our results show that autistic traits in the neurotypical population do not predict variation in response criterion. We also failed to replicate previous work showing a relationship between autistic traits and sensitivity to coherent motion and static orientation. Following the argument proposed by Gregory and Plaisted-Grant, we discuss why perceptual differences between autistic and neurotypical participants do not necessarily predict perceptual differences between neurotypical participants with high and low autistic traits.

scholarly journals Value-based attentional capture influences context-dependent decision-making

2015 ◽  
Vol 114 (1) ◽  
pp. 560-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sirawaj Itthipuripat ◽  
Kexin Cha ◽  
Napat Rangsipat ◽  
John T. Serences
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Electrophysiological Data ◽  
High Reward ◽  
Divisive Normalization ◽  
Choice Decision ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
Task Irrelevant

Normative theories posit that value-based decision-making is context independent. However, decisions between two high-value options can be suboptimally biased by the introduction of a third low-value option. This context-dependent modulation is consistent with the divisive normalization of the value of each stimulus by the total value of all stimuli. In addition, an independent line of research demonstrates that pairing a stimulus with a high-value outcome can lead to attentional capture that can mediate the efficiency of visual information processing. Here we tested the hypothesis that value-based attentional capture interacts with value-based normalization to influence the optimality of decision-making. We used a binary-choice paradigm in which observers selected between two targets and the color of each target indicated the magnitude of their reward potential. Observers also had to simultaneously ignore a task-irrelevant distractor rendered in a color that was previously associated with a specific reward magnitude. When the color of the task-irrelevant distractor was previously associated with a high reward, observers responded more slowly and less optimally. Moreover, as the learned value of the distractor increased, electrophysiological data revealed an attenuation of the lateralized N1 and N2Pc responses evoked by the relevant choice stimuli and an attenuation of the late positive deflection (LPD). Collectively, these behavioral and electrophysiological data suggest that value-based attentional capture and value-based normalization jointly mediate the influence of context on free-choice decision-making.

Dysfunctions in striatal microstructure can enhance perceptual decision making through deficits in predictive coding

2017 ◽  
Vol 222 (8) ◽  
pp. 3807-3817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Beste ◽  
Moritz Mückschel ◽  
Raymond Rosales ◽  
Aloysius Domingo ◽  
Lillian Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision

scholarly journals The persistence of value-driven attention capture is task dependent

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Milner ◽  
Mary MacLean ◽  
Barry Giesbrecht
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Attention Capture ◽  
The Other ◽  
Visual Features ◽  
Capture Effect ◽  
Bias Attention ◽  
Task Irrelevant

Visual features previously associated with reward can automatically capture attention even when task-irrelevant, a phenomenon known as value-driven attention capture (VDAC, Anderson et al., 2011b). VDAC persists without reinforcement, unlike other forms of learning where removing reinforcement typically leads to extinction (Pavlov, 1927). This study examined the conditions under which VDAC could be extinguished. In four experiments, factors known to affect attention were manipulated to examine their impact on VDAC and its extinction. All experiments included learning and test phases. During learning, participants completed a visual search task during which one of two target colors was associated with a reward, and the other with no reward. During test, one week later, participants completed another visual search task during which the reward association was not reinforced. The task during test had twice as many exposures to the rewarded feature than during learning to ensure a sufficient number of exposures to observe extinction. When a rewarded feature remained task-relevant (Exp. 1), the capture effect was reduced, but extinction was not complete. When a rewarded feature was made task-irrelevant (Exp. 2) there was no evidence of extinction. When the frequency of exposure to the task-irrelevant rewarded feature was reduced (Exp. 4), VDAC also persisted. A physically salient target (Exp. 3) resulted in the fastest rate of VDAC extinction. These findings demonstrate that the extinction of VDAC depends on various factors that affect priority for attention, especially those that bias attention away from reward-associated features.

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