The Role of Attention in Preference-Based Choice: Evidence from Behavioral, Neural, and Auditory
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The role of attention in preference-based choice: Evidence from behavioral, neural, and auditory domains Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Rachael Gwinn Graduate Program in Psychology The Ohio State University 2019 Dissertation Committee Ian Krajbich Ph.D., Advisor Julie Golomb Ph.D. Andrew Leber Ph.D. Copyrighted by Rachael Gwinn 2019 2 Abstract What role does attention play in decision-making? This dissertation will explore this question in three chapters exploring the causality of attention, the neural basis for the effects of attention, and the role of attention in auditory choices. Prior research has demonstrated a link between visual attention and value-based choice, but the direction of causality is still unclear. Here we aimed to demonstrate that attention has a causal influence on choice. We tested whether spatially biasing attention in a visual search task would produce choice biases in a later choice task. We ran four experiments where the search target was more likely to appear on one “rich” side of the screen. In the subsequent choice tasks, subjects were more likely to choose items appearing on the rich side and the average choice bias depended on how well subjects learned the regularity in the search task. Additionally, eye- tracking data revealed a first-fixation bias toward the rich side, which in turn influenced choices. Taken together, these results provide novel support for a causal effect of attention on choice. While attention appears to be causal, little is known about the choice process’s neural substrates or how attention affects the integrated evidence representations. We conducted a simultaneous eye-tracking and fMRI experiment in which subjects gradually learned about the value of two lotteries. With this design we were able to extend decisions over a long period of time, manipulate the time course of evidence, and thus dissociate instantaneous and integrated evidence. We found that instantaneous evidence was represented in ventromedial prefrontal cortex and striatum, while integrated evidence was instead represented in dorsomedial prefrontal iii cortex and parietal cortex. In line with our computational model, both instantaneous and integrated evidence signals in the prefrontal cortex were modulated by gaze direction, with attended options receiving more evidence and thus higher choice proportions. Finally, we explored the role of attention in the auditory domain. While we do make visual, preference-based decisions, like what to wear, every day, we don’t live in a purely visual world. We frequently make auditory decisions, like what song to listen to, yet these decision processes are not as well understood. To investigate such processes, including the role of attention, we had subjects complete a binary choice task. On each trial they controlled which of two songs played at any moment and ultimately decided which song they preferred. We found striking similarities between vision-based and auditory-based decisions, namely that attention played an important role in determining which song was chosen. However, unlike in visual choices, these attentional effects appear to be driven by a strong final-fixation effect. iv Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge my advisor, Ian Krajbich, for all of the help and support (and terrifying jokes) he’s given throughout my graduate program. I would also like to acknowledge my lab mates, in particular Stephanie Smith, for their support, advice, and teamwork. Finally, I’d like to acknowledge my parents, Lynne and Paul Valentich-Scott and Charles and Ann Gwinn, as well as my partner, Nathan Biggs, for the love and support they’ve given me even when I was sure I was going to fail. v Vita 2008............................................................................Dos Pueblos High School 2012............................................................................B.A. Psychology, Linguistics, Italian, University of California, Davis 2014-2015 ..................................................................Graduate Fellow, The Ohio State University 2015-2016 ..................................................................Graduate Teach Associate, Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University 2016............................................................................M.A. Psychology, The Ohio State University 2017-2018 ..................................................................Graduate Research Associate, Fisher Business School, The Ohio state University 2018-2019 ..................................................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University vi Publications Gwinn, R.E., Leber, A.B., Krajbich, I. (2019). The spillover effects of attentional learning on value-based choice. Cognition. Leber, A. B., Gwinn, R. E., Hong, Y., & O’Toole, R. J. (2016). Implicitly learned suppression of irrelevant spatial locations. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1-9. Fields of Study Major Field: Psychology vii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................. v Vita ....................................................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. viii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... x List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ xi Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 The Causal Role of Attention in Choice ............................................................................................. 5 Attention and Value in the Brain ...................................................................................................... 6 Attention in Audition ....................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2: The spillover effects of attentional learning on value-based choice ........................ 9 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Experiment 1 ................................................................................................................................. 14 Materials and Methods ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Results ............................................................................................................................................................... 19 Experiment 2 ................................................................................................................................. 27 Methods ............................................................................................................................................................ 27 Results ............................................................................................................................................................... 28 Experiment 3 ................................................................................................................................. 31 Methods ............................................................................................................................................................ 31 Results ............................................................................................................................................................... 32 Experiment 4 ................................................................................................................................. 34 Methods ............................................................................................................................................................ 34 Results ............................................................................................................................................................... 35 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 44 Chapter 3: The Neural Computation and Comparison of Value in Simple Choice .................... 49 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 49 viii Materials and Methods .................................................................................................................. 52 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 58 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 71 Chapter 4: