@article { , title = {The role of prediction in learned predictiveness.}, abstract = {Learning permits even relatively uninteresting stimuli to capture attention if they are established as predictors of important outcomes. Associative theories explain this “learned predictiveness” effect by positing that attention is a function of the relative strength of the association between stimuli and outcomes. In three experiments we show that this explanation is incomplete: learned overt visual-attention is not a function of the relative strength of the association between stimuli and an outcome. In three experiments, human participants were exposed to triplets of stimuli that comprised (i) a target (which defined correct responding), (ii) a stimulus which was perfectly correlated with the presentation of the target and (iii) a stimulus which was uncorrelated with the presentation of the target. Participants’ knowledge of the associative relationship between the correlated/uncorrelated stimuli and the target was always good. However, eye-tracking revealed that an attentional bias towards the correlated stimulus only developed when it AND target-relevant responding preceded the target stimulus. We propose a framework in which attentional changes are modulated during learning as a function the relative strength of the association between stimuli and the task-relevant response, rather than an association between stimuli and the task-relevant outcome.}, doi = {10.1037/xan0000330}, eissn = {2329-8464}, issn = {2329-8456}, issue = {3}, journal = {Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition}, pages = {203-221}, publicationstatus = {Published}, publisher = {American Psychological Association (APA)}, url = {https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/8769998}, volume = {48}, keyword = {Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics}, year = {2022}, author = {Eatherington, Carla J. and Haselgrove, Mark} }