Eye movements as a tool to investigate exemplar retrieval in judgments

authored by: Agnes Rosner, Fabienne Brändli, Bettina von Helversen
Abstract: The retrieval of past instances stored in memory can guide inferential choices and judgments. Yet, little process-level evidence exists that would allow a similar conclusion for preferential judgments. Recent research suggests that eye movements can trace information search in memory. During retrieval, people gaze at spatial locations associated with relevant information, even if the information is no longer present (the so-called ‘looking-at-nothing’ behavior). We examined eye movements based on the looking-at-nothing behavior to explore memory retrieval in inferential and preferential judgments. In Experiment 1, participants assessed their preference for smoothies with different ingredients, while the other half gauged another person’s preference. In Experiment 2, all participants made preferential judgments with or without instructions to respond as consistently as possible. People looked at exemplar locations in both inferential and preferential judgments, and both with and without consistency instructions. Eye movements to similar training exemplars predicted test judgments but not eye movements to dissimilar exemplars. These results suggest that people retrieve exemplar information in preferential judgments but that retrieval processes are not the sole determinant of judgments.
Organisation(s): Institute of Psychology
External Organisation(s): Universität Zürich (UZH)
University of Bremen
Type: Article
Journal: Judgment and Decision Making
Volume: 19
Pages: 1-29
No. of pages: 29
ISSN: 1930-2975
Publication date: 26.02.2024
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Economics and Econometrics, Decision Sciences(all), Applied Psychology
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1017/jdm.2024.3 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{4b2c5996d07e4a999484c9bacc0a424d,
title = "Eye movements as a tool to investigate exemplar retrieval in judgments",
abstract = "The retrieval of past instances stored in memory can guide inferential choices and judgments. Yet, little process-level evidence exists that would allow a similar conclusion for preferential judgments. Recent research suggests that eye movements can trace information search in memory. During retrieval, people gaze at spatial locations associated with relevant information, even if the information is no longer present (the so-called {\textquoteleft}looking-at-nothing{\textquoteright} behavior). We examined eye movements based on the looking-at-nothing behavior to explore memory retrieval in inferential and preferential judgments. In Experiment 1, participants assessed their preference for smoothies with different ingredients, while the other half gauged another person{\textquoteright}s preference. In Experiment 2, all participants made preferential judgments with or without instructions to respond as consistently as possible. People looked at exemplar locations in both inferential and preferential judgments, and both with and without consistency instructions. Eye movements to similar training exemplars predicted test judgments but not eye movements to dissimilar exemplars. These results suggest that people retrieve exemplar information in preferential judgments but that retrieval processes are not the sole determinant of judgments.",
keywords = "eye movements, memory, multiattribute judgments, preferences, process tracing, similarity",
author = "Agnes Rosner and Fabienne Br{\"a}ndli and {von Helversen}, Bettina",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s), 2024.",
year = "2024",
month = feb,
day = "26",
doi = "10.1017/jdm.2024.3",
language = "English",
volume = "19",
pages = "1--29",
journal = "Judgment and Decision Making",
issn = "1930-2975",
publisher = "Society for Judgment and Decision Making",
}