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Updated: Apr 18, 2026
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Published on: March 1, 2022
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Is value perceived? Evidence from perceptual grouping in value-based choice
Christina Deuschle1, Emily J Ineson1, Dale J Cohen1
1Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Summary
Context effects in decision-making occur when adding a third option changes preferences. This study shows these effects stem from automatic value processing and perceptual organization, not just conceptual changes.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Science
- Neuroeconomics
Background:
- Context effects, where preferences shift with added options, are well-documented.
- The underlying mechanisms, particularly the role of automatic value processing and perceptual organization, remain debated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if context effects in choice arise from automatic value processing.
- To determine if context effects adhere to principles of perceptual organization.
Main Methods:
- Participants chose between two options while ignoring task-irrelevant, value-based distractors.
- Experiments manipulated distractor proximity and value to assess their influence on choice.
- Subsequent experiments tested the role of priming and perceptual grouping by inhibiting them.
Main Results:
- Task-irrelevant distractors predictably influenced choices, supporting automatic value processing.
- Context effects diminished when priming and perceptual grouping were inhibited.
- Perceptual grouping alone, without priming, was shown to influence context effects.
Conclusions:
- Decision-making context effects are driven by automatic processing of value information.
- These effects align with principles of perceptual organization, suggesting value is processed perceptually.
- Findings challenge conceptual accounts, framing value as a perceptual event.
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