Differing Time Courses of Reward-Related Attentional Processing: An EEG Source-Space Analysis.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Lockhofen, Denise E. L. Hübner, Nils Hemdan, Fatma Sammer, Gebhard Henare, Dion Schubö, Anna Mulert, Christoph
Abstract	Since our environment typically contains more information than can be processed at any one time due to the limited capacity of our visual system, we are bound to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information. This process, termed attentional selection, is usually categorized into bottom-up and top-down processes. However, recent research suggests reward might also be an important factor in guiding attention. Monetary reward can bias attentional selection in favor of task-relevant targets and reduce the efficiency of visual search when a reward-associated, but task-irrelevant distractor is present. This study is the first to investigate reward-related target and distractor processing in an additional singleton task using neurophysiological measures and source space analysis. Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that source space analysis would find enhanced neural activity in regions of the value-based attention network, such as the visual cortex and the anterior cingulate. Additionally, we went further and explored the time courses of the underlying attentional mechanisms. Our neurophysiological results showed that rewarding distractors led to a stronger attentional capture. In line with this, we found that reward-associated distractors (compared with reward-associated targets) enhanced activation in frontal regions, indicating the involvement of top-down control processes. As hypothesized, source space analysis demonstrated that reward-related targets and reward-related distractors elicited activation in regions of the value-based attention network. However, these activations showed time-dependent differences, indicating that the neural mechanisms underlying reward biasing might be different for task-relevant and task-irrelevant stimuli.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10548-021-00827-3.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC8099853&blobtype=pdf
ISSN	08960267
Journal	Brain Topography [Brain Topogr]
Volume Number	34
DOI	10.1007/s10548-021-00827-3
PubMed Central reference number	PMC8099853
Issue Number	3
PubMed reference number	33733706
e-ISSN	15736792
Language	English
Publisher	Springer US
Publisher Date	2021-03-18
Publisher Place	New York
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2021
Subject Keyword	Attentional selection Top-down attention Bottom-up attention Reward EEG Source space analysis
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Anatomy Neurology Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging Neurology (clinical) Radiological and Ultrasound Technology