Recent studies have suggested close functional links between visual attention and decision making. This suggests that the corresponding mechanisms may interface in brain regions known to be crucial for guiding visual attention – such as the frontal eye field (FEF). Here, we combined brain stimulation, eye tracking and computational approaches to explore this possibility. We show that inhibitory transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the right FEF has a causal impact on decision-making, reducing the effect of gaze dwell time on choice while also increasing reaction times. We computationally characterize this putative mechanism by using the attentional drift diffusion model (aDDM), which reveals that FEF inhibition reduces the relative discounting of the non-fixated option in the comparison process. Our findings establish an important causal role of the right FEF in choice, elucidate the underlying mechanism, and provide support for one of the key causal hypotheses associated with the aDDM.

中文翻译：

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右额眼视野在价值比较中的因果作用

最近的研究表明视觉注意力与决策之间存在紧密的功能联系。这表明相应的机制可能在已知对引导视觉注意力至关重要的大脑区域（例如额叶视野（FEF））中相互作用。在这里，我们结合了大脑刺激，眼动追踪和计算方法来探索这种可能性。我们显示对正确的FEF抑制性经颅磁刺激（TMS）对决策具有因果关系，减少了凝视停留时间对选择的影响，同时还增加了反应时间。我们通过使用注意力漂移扩散模型（aDDM）在计算上表征这种推定的机制，该模型揭示了FEF抑制会在比较过程中减少非固定期权的相对折价。