Value-Directed Memory Encoding Alters Goal-Directed Attention a Comparison of Value-Directed and Memory-Directed Encoding

Abstract

Human attention and memory systems are significantly impacted by our goals. When motivated, individuals can prioritize their memory encoding to information that is more versus less valuable (i.e., value-directed remembering). Two prominent hypotheses describe how reward value during encoding influences episodic memory: (1) memory for higher valued information is enhanced via an encoding enhancement only for salient/rewarding high value items, or (2) higher-valued information is prioritized at the expense of lower-valued information. Participants completed alternating study-test cycles with point values assigned to the stimuli during encoding. Importantly, we manipulated the participants' motivational goal-state by instructing them to either focus on maximizing their point value or maximizing the number of items remembered on the upcoming memory test. Across four experiments we replicate prior robust effects of value on subsequent memory - particularly subjective reports of recollection. In comparison with overall memory performance from the memory-directed condition we found a tradeoff such that value-directed encoding boosts memory for high-value information and reduces memory for low-value information, supporting both hypotheses. To reconcile these views, we propose a goal-directed attention theory of value-directed remembering. We assayed transient and state level effects of attention using periodic thought probes and pupillometry. We found that value-directed encoding influences participants' reports of being on task and pupil diameter compared with memory-directed encoding. The results suggest that participants can adaptively tune their attention and memory systems depending on their motivational goals. These findings contribute to a more mechanistic understanding of how value tunes memory encoding by augmenting attentional processes.

Keywords: reward, value-directed remembering, episodic memory, Attention, Pupillometry