Value-driven interference in visual search: Attention to reward-associated distractors.

We used an implicit learning paradigm to examine the acquisition of color-reward associations when colors were task-irrelevant and attention to color was detrimental to performance. Our task required a manual classification response to a shape target and a correct response was rewarded with either 1 or 10 cent. The amount of reward was contingent on the color of a simultaneous color distractor and different colors were associated with low reward (always 1 Cent), partial reward (randomly either 1 or 10 Cent), and high reward (always 10 Cent). Attention to color was nonstrategic for maximizing reward because it interfered with the response to the target. We examined the potential of reward-associated colors to capture and hold overt attention automatically. Reward expectancy increased with the average amount of associated reward (low < partial < high). Reward uncertainty was highest for the partially reward distractor color (low < partial > high). Results revealed that capture frequency was linked to reward expectancy, while capture duration additionally seemed to be influenced by uncertainty, complementing previous findings of such a dissociation in appetitive and aversive learning (Koenig, Kadel, Uengoer, Schubö, & Lachnit, 2017; Koenig, Uengoer, & Lachnit, 2017).