The drift diffusion model provides a parsimonious explanation of decisions across neurobiological, psychological and behavioural levels of analysis. Although most drift diffusion model implementations assume that only a single value guides decisions, choices often involve multiple attributes that could make separable contributions to choice. Here we fit incentive-compatible dietary choices to a multi-attribute, time-dependent drift diffusion model, in which taste and health could differentially influence the evidence accumulation process. We find that these attributes shaped both the relative value signal and the latency of evidence accumulation in a manner consistent with participants’ idiosyncratic preferences. Moreover, by using a dietary prime, we showed how a healthy choice intervention alters multi-attribute, time-dependent drift diffusion model parameters that in turn predict prime-dependent choices. Our results reveal that different decision attributes make separable contributions to the strength and timing of evidence accumulation, providing new insights into the construction of interventions to alter the processes of choice.

漂移扩散模型为跨神经生物学、心理和行为分析水平的决策提供了简洁的解释。尽管大多数漂移扩散模型实现假设只有一个值指导决策，但选择通常涉及多个属性，这些属性可以对选择做出可分离的贡献。在这里，我们将激励相容的饮食选择与多属性、时间相关的漂移扩散模型相匹配，其中口味和健康可以不同地影响证据积累过程。我们发现这些属性以与参与者的特殊偏好一致的方式塑造了相对价值信号和证据积累的延迟。此外，通过使用膳食素，我们展示了健康的选择干预如何改变多属性，时间相关的漂移扩散模型参数，这些参数反过来预测素数相关的选择。我们的结果表明，不同的决策属性对证据积累的强度和时间做出了不同的贡献，为构建干预措施以改变选择过程提供了新的见解。