Reviewer #1 (Public review): How attention simplifies mental representations for planning
Year: 2025
Type: peer-review
Abstract: Human planning is efficient—it frugally deploys limited cognitive resources to accomplish difficult tasks—and flexible—adapting to novel problems and environments. Computational approaches suggest that people construct simplified mental representations of their environment, balancing the complexity of a task representation with its utility. These models imply a nested optimisation in which planning shapes perception, and perception shapes planning - but the perceptual and attentional mechanisms governing how this interaction unfolds remain unknown. Here, we harness virtual maze navigation to characterise how spatial attention controls which aspects of a task representation enter subjective awareness and are available for planning. We find that spatial proximity governs which aspects of a maze are available for planning, and that when task-relevant information follows natural (lateralised) contours of attention, people can more easily construct simplified and useful maze representations. This influence of attention varies considerably across individuals, explaining differences in people’s task representations and behaviour. Inspired by the ‘spotlight of attention’ analogy, we incorporate the effects of visuospatial attention into existing computational accounts of value-guided construal. Together, our work bridges computational perspectives on perception and decision-making to better understand how individuals represent their environments in aid of planning.Humans have an impressive ability to plan. Theoretical models in computer science propose that instead of using all the available information in a scene, a decision-maker should form a simplified mental representation of their environment over which they plan. However, little is known about how perceptual and attentional processes shape the planning process in humans. We find that people form simplified mental representations in line with the natural contours of spatial attention, whereby information limited to a visual hemifield is more readily available for planning, like a spotlight illuminating a part of the environment. We develop a novel computational model of the effects of attention on planning and characterise systematic variation between individuals in how they simplify their mental representations.
Source: eLife
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,500
Award: G938321116
OpenAlex ID: W4414145247