Exogenous cueing modulates preference formation.

Attentional shifts can be produced by external (exogenous) cues. Here we focus on whether a shift of attention modulates affective responses. In five experiments, the peripheral onset of an uninformative cue was followed by a novel abstract pattern. We observed that exogenous cuing enhanced target discrimination (RTs) and preference formation (ratings) (Experiment 1a). We therefore distinguish two validity effects: VERTs and VEpreference. Validity effects are measured by the difference between valid and invalid conditions. Interestingly, VEpreference was sensitive to several parameters. When oculomotor responses were inhibited, cuing induced VERTs but not VEpreference (Experiment 1b). Also the cue-to-target (inter-stimulus interval, ISI) interval was critical. By increasing ISI we eliminated both VERTs and VEpreference (Experiment 2a and 2b). Further investigation revealed that the VEpreference originates from a combination of a validity benefit and an invalidity cost (Experiment3). We also investigated whether VEpreference indirectly results from the experience of fluency on valid conditions. The target in Experiment 4 was a simple circle and participants responded to its location. After this response, a non-target pattern appeared at fixation and was evaluated. Although VERTs was present for target detection, VEpreference for non-target patterns at fixation was absent. In Experiment 5 the non-target patterns were presented at the peripheral location of the target. Both VERTs and VEpreference were observed. Preference modulation may thus be determined by a sense of fluency associated with the cue-to-target contingency. However, reorienting attention with an additional saccade can reset the effect. Overall these studies document the relationship between exogenous attention and preference. Our results highlight the important role of attention and oculomotor responses in the mechanism that links visual and emotional responses. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.