Abstract

Most value-based decision-making (VBDM) tasks instruct people to make value judgements about stimuli using wording relating to consumption, however in some contexts this may be inappropriate. This study aims to explore whether variations of trial wording capture a common construct of value. This is a pre-registered experimental study with a within-subject design. Fifty-nine participants completed a two-alternative forced-choice task where they chose between two food images. Participants completed three blocks of trials: one asked which they would rather consume (standard wording), one asked which image they liked more, and one asked them to recall which image they rated higher during a previous block. We fitted the EZ drift-diffusion model to the reaction time and choice data to estimate evidence accumulation (EA) processes during the different blocks. There was a highly significant main effect of trial difficulty, but this was not modified by trial wording (F = 2.00, p = .11, η_p² = .03, BF₁₀ = .05). We also found highly significant positive correlations between the EA rates across task blocks (rs > .44, ps < .001). The findings provide initial validation of alternative wording in VBDM tasks that can be used in contexts where it may be undesirable to ask participants to make consummatory judgements.

摘要

大多数基于价值的决策 (VBDM) 任务指导人们使用与消费相关的措辞对刺激做出价值判断，但是在某些情况下这可能是不合适的。本研究旨在探讨试验措辞的变化是否捕捉到了共同的价值结构。这是一项预先注册的实验研究，采用受试者内设计。59 名参与者完成了一项有两种选择的强制选择任务，他们在两个食物图像之间进行选择。参与者完成了三组试验：一组询问他们更愿意消费哪张（标准措辞），一组询问他们更喜欢哪张图片，另一组要求他们回忆他们在上一个区块中对哪个图像评分更高。我们将 EZ 漂移扩散模型拟合到反应时间和选择数据，以估计不同区块期间的证据积累 (EA) 过程。试验难度有非常显着的主效应，但这并没有被试验措辞修改（F = 2.00，p = .11，η _p ²  = .03，BF ₁₀  = .05）。我们还发现跨任务块的 EA 率之间存在高度显着的正相关性 ( r s > .44, p s < .001)。调查结果提供了对 VBDM 任务中替代措辞的初步验证，这些措辞可用于可能不希望要求参与者做出完善判断的情况。