Concept Learning Builds Behaviourally Relevant Attentional Templates

Attention optimizes learning by filtering relevant information to build conceptual knowledge. However, how learned concepts, once encoded in memory, subsequently guide attentional processes remains an intriguing question. We propose that concept learning leads to the emergence of attentional templates that store goal-relevant representations, thereby actively guiding attention allocation. Participants completed two separate learning tasks and a test, wherein each trial began with a cue, indicating which learning task should be employed. Random test trials included a probe instead of concept specific features: a small arrow appeared at a feature location that was relevant (i.e., valid) or irrelevant (i.e., invalid) for the cued task.

Successful learners were faster at responding to valid probes than invalid, demonstrating the deployment of concept-specific attentional templates. Importantly, the efficiency of this attention allocation was tied to concept learning success, with higher learning performance yielding greater response time benefits at test. Thus, our results reveal that learning builds behaviourally relevant attentional templates, and subsequently, learned concepts in memory guide attention by deploying these templates, a phenomenon that we introduce as learning-guided attention. This work provides novel insights into the dynamic interplay between learning, memory, and attention.