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 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).