Healthful choices depend on the latency and rate of information accumulation

Nicolette J. Sullivan () and Scott A. Huettel
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Nicolette J. Sullivan: London School of Economics
Scott A. Huettel: Duke University

Nature Human Behaviour, 2021, vol. 5, issue 12, 1698-1706

Abstract: Abstract The drift diffusion model provides a parsimonious explanation of decisions across neurobiological, psychological and behavioural levels of analysis. Although most drift diffusion model implementations assume that only a single value guides decisions, choices often involve multiple attributes that could make separable contributions to choice. Here we fit incentive-compatible dietary choices to a multi-attribute, time-dependent drift diffusion model, in which taste and health could differentially influence the evidence accumulation process. We find that these attributes shaped both the relative value signal and the latency of evidence accumulation in a manner consistent with participants’ idiosyncratic preferences. Moreover, by using a dietary prime, we showed how a healthy choice intervention alters multi-attribute, time-dependent drift diffusion model parameters that in turn predict prime-dependent choices. Our results reveal that different decision attributes make separable contributions to the strength and timing of evidence accumulation, providing new insights into the construction of interventions to alter the processes of choice.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01154-0

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