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How top-down and bottom-up attention modulate risky choice

Significance How much are we in control of our decisions? The current study explores how goal-relevant (top-down) and perceptual features (bottom-up) govern the distribution of attention in risky choice. Findings from participants’ choices, eye movements, and computational modeling analysis show that while salient perceptual features can influence the acquisition of information, their influence on choice is limited to situations in which those features are tied to potential outcomes of the decision. When such features are not tied to outcomes, their influence is suppressed by top-down control. These results suggest, contrary to popular accounts, that perceptual salience can induce bottom-up effects of overt selection, but the perceived value of information is the crucial arbiter of intentional control over choice. We examine how bottom-up (or stimulus-driven) and top-down (or goal-driven) processes govern the distribution of attention in risky choice. In three experiments, participants chose between a certain payoff and the chance of receiving a payoff drawn randomly from an array of eight numbers. We tested the hypothesis that initial attention is driven by perceptual properties of the stimulus (e.g., font size of the numbers), but subsequent choice is goal-driven (e.g., win the best outcome). Two experiments in which task framing (goal driven) and font size (stimulus driven) were manipulated demonstrated that payoffs with the highest values and the largest font sizes had the greatest impact on choice. The third experiment added a number in large font to the array, which could not be an outcome of the gamble (i.e., a distractor). Eye movement and choice data indicated that although the distractor attracted attention, it had no influence on option selection. Together with computational modeling analyses, the results suggest that perceptual salience can induce bottom-up effects of overt selection but that the perceived value of information is the crucial arbiter of intentional control over risky choice.