title: Altering spatial priority maps via reward-based learning.
abstract: Spatial priority maps are real-time representations of the behavioral salience of locations in the visual field, resulting from the combined influence of stimulus driven activity and top-down signals related to the current goals of the individual. They arbitrate which of a number of (potential) targets in the visual scene will win the competition for attentional resources. As a result, deployment of visual attention to a specific spatial location is determined by the current peak of activation (corresponding to the highest behavioral salience) across the map. Here we report a behavioral study performed on healthy human volunteers, where we demonstrate that spatial priority maps can be shaped via reward-based learning, reflecting long-lasting alterations (biases) in the behavioral salience of specific spatial locations. These biases exert an especially strong influence on performance under conditions where multiple potential targets compete for selection, conferring competitive advantage to targets presented in spatial locations associated with greater reward during learning relative to targets presented in locations associated with lesser reward. Such acquired biases of spatial attention are persistent, are nonstrategic in nature, and generalize across stimuli and task contexts. These results suggest that reward-based attentional learning can induce plastic changes in spatial priority maps, endowing these representations with the "intelligent" capacity to learn from experience.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy, Italian Institute of Neuroscience, 37134 Verona, Italy, leonardo.chelazzi@univr.it.
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chelazzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy, Centre of Applied Computer Science, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, 04154 Košice, Slovakia, and.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eštočinová
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Calletti
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy, Department of Economics, Management and Statistics, University of Milan Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lo Gerfo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sani
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Della Libera
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Santandrea
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012201:Reward; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cross-target competition; reward-based learning; spatial attention; spatial priority maps