Prior reward contingencies influence the contents of working memory by biasing attention in space but not in time: Evidence from recognition of sequentially versus simultaneously presented sets of items

Attention is automatically drawn towards stimuli features that were previously associated with reward. The consequences of reward on memory are less clear, however. Two experiments investigate the effects prior reward associations have on encoding and recognition in visual working memory. In a training phase, participants searched for one of two colors of target, where one color had a greater reward contingency than the other. In a later task, participants studied sets of three symbols and made old/new judgments on a single test character. Critically, some lists contained a symbol that was presented in a previously rewarded color. Using drift-diffusion analysis, we found that targets that were displayed in high reward-associated color exhibited higher drift rates compared to targets presented a low-reward associated color, but only when the array when presented simultaneously (Experiment 1) and not sequentially (Experiment 2). This combination of results suggests that reward associations shape the distribution of visual-spatial attention but do not induce differential attention and rehearsal for the contents of working memory. Prior reward can influence the content of working memory, but only by a gatekeeping process and not by selective rehearsal.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Yuquimpo, Jonathan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Benjamin, Aaron

• Reward
• Attention
• Memory
• Drift-diffusion Model

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Jonathan Yuquimpo

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121991

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F121991