Visual fixations influence purchasing decisions less than choices between products

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Visual fixations influence purchasing decisions less than choices between products Ian Krajbich1, 2*, Dingchao Lu2, Colin Camerer2 and Antonio Rangel2 1 University of Zurich, Department of Economics, Switzerland 2 Caltech, Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, United States We now know that visual fixations play a crucial role in two-item and multi-item choice by biasing the drift-diffusion choice process towards the item that is being fixated on. Here, we investigate whether visual fixations play a similar role in purchasing decisions. In the first stage of the experiment, subjects reveal their values for 50 different consumer goods using an incentive-compatible BDM auction. In the second stage (300 trials), subjects see one of the items and one of six random prices. Their decision is whether to purchase the item at that price. During these decisions we record subjects’ eye movements at 50Hz, as well as their choices and reaction times. We then use maximum likelihood estimation on the choices and reaction times to fit a modified drift-diffusion model where there is more evidence accumulated for an option when it is fixated than when it is not fixated. The naïve hypothesis was that purchasing decisions would obey the same drift-diffusion process as with two-item or multi-item choice, since the unchosen item(s) can be thought of as an opportunity cost, analogous to a real dollar cost. Instead, we find that the decision process in purchasing decisions is considerably different. Price fixations tend to be shorter and less variable than item fixations, indicating that subjects treat prices differently than items. Furthermore, while the structure of the best-fitting model is the same as before, the attention bias towards the fixated item is greatly diminished, resulting in better decisions. Keywords: Decision Theory, Eye Movements, reaction times Conference: Neural Coding, Decision-Making & Integration in Time, Rauischholzhausen, Germany, 26 Apr - 29 Apr, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Neural Coding, Decision-Making & Integration in Time Citation: Krajbich I, Lu D, Camerer C and Rangel A (2012). Visual fixations influence purchasing decisions less than choices between products. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Neural Coding, Decision-Making & Integration in Time. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2012.86.00006 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 12 Jan 2012; Published Online: 16 Jan 2012. * Correspondence: Dr. Ian Krajbich, University of Zurich, Department of Economics, Zurich, Switzerland, krajbich@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Ian Krajbich Dingchao Lu Colin Camerer Antonio Rangel Google Ian Krajbich Dingchao Lu Colin Camerer Antonio Rangel Google Scholar Ian Krajbich Dingchao Lu Colin Camerer Antonio Rangel PubMed Ian Krajbich Dingchao Lu Colin Camerer Antonio Rangel Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.