Testing the possibility of model-based Pavlovian control of attention to threat

Abstract

Signals for reward or punishment attract attention preferentially, a principle termed value-modulated attention capture (VMAC). The mechanisms that govern the allocation of attention resources can be productively described with a terminology that is more often applied to the control of overt behaviours, namely, the distinction between instrumental and Pavlovian control, and between model-free and model-based control. While instrumental control of VMAC can be either model-free or model-based, it is not known whether Pavlovian control of VMAC can be model-based. To decide whether this is possible we measured Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEPs) while 20 healthy adults took part in a novel task. During the learning stage participants underwent aversive threat conditioning with two CSs, one that predicted pain (CS+) and one that predicted safety (CS-). Instructions given prior to the test stage in the task allowed participants to infer whether novel, ambiguous CSs (new CS+/ new CS-) were threatening or safe. Correct inference required combining stored internal representations and new propositional information, the hallmark of model-based control. SSVEP amplitudes quantified the amount of attention allocated to novel CSs on their very first presentation, before they were ever reinforced. We found that SSVEPs were higher for new CS+ than new CS-. Because task design precluded model-free or instrumental control this result demonstrates a model-based Pavlovian control of VMAC. It confirms, in the domain of internal resource allocation, the model-based Pavlovian control of incentive behaviour and underlines the potential transformative role of information as an emotion regulation technique.