A gaze bias with coarse spatial indexing during a gambling task

Abstract

Researchers have used eye-tracking methods to infer cognitive processes during decision making in choice tasks involving visual materials. Gaze likelihood analysis has shown a cascading effect, suggestive of a causal role for the gaze in preference formation during evaluative decision making. According to the gaze bias hypothesis, the gaze serves to build commitment gradually towards a choice. Here, we applied gaze likelihood analysis in a two-choice version of the well-known Iowa Gambling Task. This task requires active learning of the value of different choice options. As such, it does not involve visual preference formation, but choice optimization through learning. In Experiment 1 we asked subjects to choose between two decks with different payoff structures, and to give their responses using mouse clicks. Two groups of subjects were exposed to stable versus varying outcome contingencies. The analysis revealed a pronounced gaze bias towards the chosen stimuli in both groups of subjects, plateauing at more than 400 ms before the choice. The early plateauing suggested that the gaze effect partially reflected eye-hand coordination. In Experiment 2 we asked subjects to give responses using a key press. The results again showed a clear gaze bias towards the chosen deck, this time without any influence from eye-hand coordination. In both experiments, there was a clear gaze bias towards the choice even though the gaze fixations did not narrowly focus on the spatial positions of choice options. Taken together, the data suggested a role for gaze in coarse spatial indexing during non-perceptual decision making.

Evaluative Processing of Food Images: A Conditional Role for Viewing in Preference Formation

“…However, to establish the amount of time actually spent gazing at each stimulus, we reckoned it was necessary to add an eye-tracking device to the experimental set-up. For the next 44 subjects, we were able to record manual (keyboard) responses as well as gaze position using Eye Tribe, an eye-tracking device at 60 Hz sampling rate (The Eye Tribe Aps, Denmark); a system with sufficient reliability for present purposes ( Ooms et al, 2015 ; Zommara et al, 2018 ). Thus, the present data set includes a total of 78 subjects: 34 subjects with only manual responses, and 44 subjects with eye-tracking data in addition to the manual responses.…”

“…The basic phenomenon of gradually increasing gaze likelihood on the to-be-chosen item was replicated in a variety of forced-choice tasks with a range of stimuli, including human faces ( Simion and Shimojo, 2006 , 2007 ), naturalistic scenes including landscapes, people in daily life, architecture, and animals ( Glaholt and Reingold, 2009 , 2011 ; Schotter et al, 2010 ), abstract visual patterns ( Morii and Sakagami, 2015 ), color cards ( Zommara et al, 2018 ), and images of red-wine bottles and snacks ( Onuma et al, 2017 ). Further evidence suggested that gaze fixation (i.e., effective exposure duration) is the critical factor, independent of gaze shifting ( Nittono and Wada, 2009 ; Bird et al, 2012 ; Gunia and Murnighan, 2015 ; Saito et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Tracking the gaze provides a moment-by-moment assessment of thought processes in a wide variety of contexts ( Shepherd et al, 1986 ; Liversedge and Findlay, 2000 ; Theeuwes et al, 2009 ; Tatler et al, 2010 ; Bulling et al, 2011 ). Visual behavior is tightly linked to learning ( Heisz and Shore, 2008 ), associative memory ( Hannula and Ranganath, 2009 ), saliency determination ( Henderson, 2003 ), judgment tasks concerning products ( Pärnamets et al, 2016 ), decision-making under uncertainty ( Zommara et al, 2018 ), and moral dilemma problem solving ( Pärnamets et al, 2015 ). Particularly gaze duration, or viewing time, appears to be a useful index of the extent of information processing (see Lauwereyns, 2012 , for a comprehensive review).…”

Active Confirmation Bias in the Evaluative Processing of Food Images

“…963290-0403). Eye positions were recorded using Eye Tribe, an eye-tracking device at 60 Hz sampling rate (The Eye Tribe Aps, Denmark); a system with sufficient reliability for present purposes 22 , 54 , 55 .…”

Urgency Promotes Affective Disengagement: Effects From Bivalent Cues on Preference Formation for Abstract Images

“…Here, we will refer to this proposal as the "gradualcommitment hypothesis." The evidence of a tight connection between looking and liking was shown to be highly reproducible (including in our own laboratory) in a wide variety of conditions Shimojo, 2006, 2007;Glaholt and Reingold, 2009;Schotter et al, 2010;Bird et al, 2012;Morii and Sakagami, 2015;Zommara et al, 2018). However, several lines of research suggest that the relationship between orienting behavior and preference formation may be complex, as a function of the nature of the stimuli being processed.…”