Reward expectation yields distinct effects on sensory processing and decision making in the human brain
Ankita Sengupta, Devarajan Sridharan, Christian Schnell, PhD, Christian Schnell, PhD, Christian Schnell, PhD, Christian Schnell, PhD

TL;DR
The study shows how reward expectations separately influence attention and decision-making in the human brain.
Contribution
The study identifies distinct neural mechanisms for reward expectation effects on sensory processing and decision-making.
Findings
Space-specific reward expectation modulates sensory sensitivity, not decision criteria.
Choice-specific reward expectation affects decision-making, not sensory sensitivity.
Neural markers of attention correlate with space-specific reward effects, not choice-specific ones.
Abstract
Reward expectation robustly guides both attention and decisions. Yet, whether common or distinct mechanisms mediate each of these processes remains unknown. Previous studies have often conflated the effect of reward expectation on sensory processing and decision-making because locations selected for sensory prioritization (sensitivity effects) were also prioritized for decisions (criterion effects). Here, we identify distinct forms of reward expectation that separably control spatial attention and decisional biases in human cortex. Sensitivity and criterion were independently modulated when expected rewards varied across locations (“space-specific”) or choices (“choice-specific”), respectively. Only sensitivity, not criterion, modulations reflected a limited, conserved attentional resource. Established neural and physiological signatures of attention, including gain modulation of…
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Taxonomy
TopicsNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies · Neural dynamics and brain function · Memory and Neural Mechanisms
