Intertemporal choices refer to decisions involving tradeoffs between costs and benefits at different times. Two types of models, namely, attribute- and alternative-based models, have been developed to account for the intertemporal choices of individuals. Although behavioral evidence favors attribute-based models, eye-tracking data have produced mixed evidence. Examining the causal link between eye gaze and intertemporal choice may help resolve the controversy in these two intertemporal models. This study then performs a gaze-contingent manipulation to direct the gaze time of the participants while they are choosing between two intertemporal options. The intertemporal choices of these participants were found to be biased toward a randomly determined target when their gazes were directed to the target attribute (Study 1, N = 45), but their choices were not biased when their gazes were directed to the target option (Study 2, N = 45). The gazed longer attribute also mediated the effect of gaze-contingent manipulation on intertemporal choice. These findings suggest a causal link between intertemporal choices and the gaze-contingent manipulation of the attribute-based gaze pattern and contribute to the theoretical understanding of the mechanisms and processes involved in making intertemporal choices.

中文翻译：

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利用眼睛注视的动态来偏向跨期选择

跨期选择是指涉及不同时间成本和收益之间权衡的决策。已经开发了两种类型的模型，即基于属性的模型和基于替代的模型，以解释个人的跨期选择。尽管行为证据支持基于属性的模型，但眼动追踪数据产生了混合证据。检查眼睛注视和跨期选择之间的因果关系可能有助于解决这两个跨期模型中的争议。然后，该研究执行凝视条件操作，以指导参与者在两个跨期选项之间进行选择时的凝视时间。当他们的目光指向目标属性时，这些参与者的跨期选择被发现偏向于随机确定的目标（研究 1，N= 45），但是当他们的目光指向目标选项时，他们的选择没有偏见（研究 2，N = 45）。凝视更长的属性也介导了凝视条件操纵对跨期选择的影响。这些发现表明跨期选择与基于属性的凝视模式的凝视条件操纵之间存在因果关系，并有助于对跨期选择所涉及的机制和过程的理论理解。