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.
The persistence of value-driven attention capture is task dependent
