Attentional Capture Of Non-target Emotional Faces:The Evidence From Reward Learning

It is well known that reward learning has a great influence on attention processing,which can change individual's attention bias and psychological processing.Attention can still be captured by reward stimulus even reward stimulus unrelated to current goal.In this study,whether the emotional stimuli after reward learning affect the processing of the target task as irrelevant items;How does reward learning affect goal processing after connected with emotional stimuli? And what are the neural mechanisms by which reward and emotion are connected in learning process? Based on the above,current study explores how reward learning affects non-target emotional attention processing and the changes in brain mechanisms during the establishment of learning connections between the two through reward training paradigm.In the first experiment 1,we used the classical model of reward learning to investigate whether the presence of emotional stimuli as non-target stimuli after the reward learning.The task was to distinguish the orientation of line segment on the face.After the reward training,there is no difference between high reward-fearful face and neutral face in RT,but it is longer than the low reward-happy face distracter condition;high reward-happy face and neutral face distracter is longer than low reward-fearful face.Experiment 2 used to study the effects of different levels of reward on different emotional processing.The subjects were asked to look at the canter of screen and make a judgment about whether the line segments on either side of the emotional face(in the middle of the screen)were aligned when the stimulus appeared.It was found that the high reward fearful face distracter responded faster than in the low reward-fear and no reward-fear;the happy distracter face responded faster in high reward than it in low and no reward conditions,however,there is no difference between low reward-happy and no reward-happy in RTs.The RTs of neutral face is no difference in three rewards.Experiment 3 used f MRI technology to explore the reward learning process of rewards and emotional faces.The behavioural results show that when the emotional face appears as a non-target interference stimulus in reward learning,the hindrance to the target processing is weakened.The fear face will reduce the interference effect on the target processing as the reward level becomes larger;the interference of the happy face to the target will also be weakened by the increase of the annual reward.Brain imaging results showed that the emergence of reward feedback activated the anterior and posterior cingulated cortex/insular,striatum and other brain areas,while the appearance of emotional faces activated the amygdale and striatum,hippocampus and other areas.Therefore,the existence of rewards may enhance the learning connection between rewards and emotions.Therefore,this study comes to the following conclusions:(1)Reward learning can change the priority of attention processing of non-target emotional faces.Different degrees of reward learning have different effects on the processing of emotional targets.High rewards have more effects on the attention processing of non-target emotional faces than low rewards.(2)The effect of reward learning on the processing of non-target fear faces increases with the increase of reward degree,and the weakening effect on target processing also increases;the effect of the reward on the happy faces was similar to that on the fearful faces.Different degrees of reward learning did not change the interference effect of neutral faces.(3)Through top-down regulation of attention resources,reward learning manipulates the influence of cognitive control on non-target emotional stimuli...