Preference Reversals in Decision Making Under Risk are Accompanied by Changes in Attention to Different Attributes
Betty E Kim1, Darryl Seligman, Joseph W Kable
1Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
|July 27, 2012
Summary
Visual attention shifts influence how people value options, leading to preference reversals in decision-making. Eye movements reveal task-dependent attention to probabilities versus amounts when choosing or bidding on gambles.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Neuroeconomics
- Decision science
Background:
- Visual fixations influence preferences between goods.
- Attribute weighting is crucial in decision-making under risk.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how visual fixations and attention shifts affect attribute weighting in risky decision-making.
- To explore the relationship between task context, attention, and preference reversals.
Main Methods:
- Eye-tracking was used to measure visual fixations during decision tasks.
- Participants made choices between gambles and bid on gambles.
- Systematic preference reversals between choice and bid tasks were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Preference reversals were observed: higher probability chosen, higher amount bid.
- Fixations shifted, focusing on probabilities during choices and amounts during bids.
- Attention allocation varied based on task demands (choice vs. bid).
Conclusions:
- Value construction in risky decisions is context-dependent due to attention shifts.
- Task context modulates neural computation of value via attention.
- Findings suggest testable hypotheses on neural mechanisms of preference reversals.
Keywords:
anchoringcontext effectscontingent weightingeye-trackingneuroeconomicsrisk aversionvisual attentionMore Related Videos
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