Faced with several options, it is possible to guess our choice by following our gaze.
- We tend to choose the options on which our eyes linger the most.
- First, our gaze scans the options before stopping on what seems to us the most interesting.
- People made their choice when they concluded that the best option was sufficiently better than the second best option.
How do we make our choice in front of a vending machine that offers 36 different options? German and American researchers studied 49 volunteers who said they were snacking enthusiasts. After four hours of fasting, they presented them with sets of treats and observed their decision-making process. They published the results of their experiment on April 6 in the journal eLife.
Several choices of treats after fasting
Researchers have discovered that the choice we are about to make can be read in the eyes. The results of the experiment showed that we tend to choose the options on which our gaze lingers the most. “But the time people spend looking at items isn’t the only way they decide when they have plenty of alternatives.continues Ian Krajbich, co-author of the study and associate professor of psychology and economics at the University ofOhio State. It’s a little more complicated than that.”
During the study, a eye tracker recorded participants’ eye activity as they made their selection. After the four-hour fast, the researchers presented sweets on a computer screen and the volunteers had to choose between 9, 16, 25 or 36 different options. At the end of the experiment, they rated how much they liked the treats offered to them.
What we watch last, not necessarily what we choose
The results revealed that the participants did not carefully observe all the items before deciding on their choice. Instead, they looked more like a first round that at first glance seemed random but actually depended on where their favorite items were. “There’s this peripheral screening process where people learn to avoid even looking directly at snacks they don’t really like.describes Ian Krajbich. This is not something we see in studies where participants have only two alternatives. This only happens when they have a lot of options.”
The researchers first thought that the volunteers scan through the options until they come across something that looks pretty good to them, but doesn’t necessarily match their favorite treat. “But that’s not what the results showedreveals Ian Krajbich. If this ‘satisfying’ pattern were true, people would have stopped looking as soon as they found a good enough snack. But the results showed that participants only chose the last snack they looked at about 45% of the time..”
The location on the screen has no influence
The volunteers actually go back and forth between items until one stands out from the rest. “People stopped their choice when they concluded that the best option was sufficiently better than the second best option”, adds the researcher.
Furthermore, the researchers noted that the location of the treats on the screen did not influence the decision-making. They found, however, that participants tended to start their search in the upper left corner of the screen instead, then looked left to right and top to bottom. “Soon enough, their attention is then drawn to their options that most interest themconcluded Ian Krajbich. This influences their searching process and their gaze begins to skip in less predictable ways..”
