Internal attention has been shown to guide choice. However, research suggests different processes to explain the observed behavior: For one, a change in integration strategy (compensatory or non-compensatory) and alternatively, an increase in decision weights for attended information. In this study, attribute information for the decision has to be retrieved from memory and a retro-cue paradigm is used to guide attention to one of several attributes shared between alternatives.
We find more fixations to the cued attribute and more choices of the alternative scoring higher on that cued attribute. This is in line with the hypothesis of increased decision weights. There is no evidence of a strategy change in the behavioral results.
Explorative analyses revealed that fixations during encoding predict choice: fixations on negative attribute information reduced and fixations on positive information increased choice for the respective alternative. This is in line with an information integration account of choice. During the retention and choice-phase, however, the fixated alternative, rather than the specific attribute information mattered. That is, even if the attribute information is negative, the probability of choosing this alternative increased. This is in line with the gaze-cascade model. These results suggest that attention is indicative of different information processing, throughout the process. During encoding, attention might reflect information acquisition of individual attributes, while during the retention and choice-phase, attention might reflect consolidating preferences for the entire alternative.
Studying eye movements during different phases of the choice process advances our theoretical understanding of the role of attention during decision making.