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Probabilistic reinforcement learning enhances processes supporting conscious perception of rewarding stimuli

Poster Session F - Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Kristina Krasich¹ (), Rebecca M. Lovasco¹, Casey E. Baldwin¹, Marty G. Woldorff²; ¹Elon University, ²Duke University

Conscious perception allows people to subjectively experience sensory input, but it is unclear what stimuli will be consciously perceived and by what mechanisms. Probabilistic reinforcement learning allows people to incrementally learn which stimuli are likely to be rewarding, thereby offering a possible mechanism through which the visual system prioritizes such inputs for conscious perception. Participants completed ten iterations of combined ‘learning+perception’ study blocks while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. During learning, participants made choices as to which stimulus type (face or house) was more likely to yield a reward. During perception, participants localized a briefly presented, perceptually masked face or house stimulus and rated how clearly they saw it (perceptual ratings). The findings showed that participants successfully learned which stimulus type was more likely to be rewarded. Importantly, during the perception block, more (vs. less) rewarding stimuli from the previous learning block elicited enhanced event-related-potential (ERP) responses that have been previously associated with conscious visual perception, namely a greater occipito-parietal visual awareness negativity (VAN; ~200-300 ms) and a greater centroparietal late positivity (LP; > 400 ms). However, subjective perceptual ratings did not differ for previously more rewarding stimuli. These findings suggest that neural processing was enhanced for the more rewarding stimuli but that this enhancement did not translate into changes in reported awareness. This study provides initial evidence that reinforcement learning can influence the neural correlates often associated with conscious perception, but which under certain circumstances may or may not ramify into enhanced reportable subjective experience of perceptual inputs.

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Vision