Biasing moral decisions by exploiting the dynamics of eye gaze
Pärnamets, Philip LU ; Johansson, Petter LU ; Hall, Lars LU ; Balkenius, Christian LU
; Spivey, Michael J.
and Richardson, Daniel C.
(2015)
In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
112(13).
p.4170-4175
- Abstract
- Eye gaze is a window onto cognitive processing in tasks such as spatial memory, linguistic processing, and decision making. We present evidence that information derived from eye gaze can be used to change the course of individuals’ decisions, even when they are reasoning about high-level, moral issues. Previous studies have shown that when an experimenter actively controls what an individual sees the experimenter can affect simple decisions with alternatives of almost equal valence. Here we show that if an experimenter passively knows when individuals move their eyes the experimenter can change complex moral decisions. This causal effect is achieved by simply adjusting the timing of the decisions. We monitored participants’ eye movements... (More)
- Eye gaze is a window onto cognitive processing in tasks such as spatial memory, linguistic processing, and decision making. We present evidence that information derived from eye gaze can be used to change the course of individuals’ decisions, even when they are reasoning about high-level, moral issues. Previous studies have shown that when an experimenter actively controls what an individual sees the experimenter can affect simple decisions with alternatives of almost equal valence. Here we show that if an experimenter passively knows when individuals move their eyes the experimenter can change complex moral decisions. This causal effect is achieved by simply adjusting the timing of the decisions. We monitored participants’ eye movements during a two-alternative forced-choice task with moral questions. One option was randomly predetermined as a target. At the moment participants had fixated the target option for a set amount of time we terminated their deliberation and prompted them to choose between the two alternatives. Although participants were unaware of this gaze-contingent manipulation, their choices were systematically biased toward the target option. We conclude that even abstract moral cognition is partly constituted by interactions with the immediate environment and is likely supported by gaze-dependent decision processes. By tracking the interplay between individuals, their sensorimotor systems, and the environment, we can influence the outcome of a decision without directly manipulating the content of the information available to them. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/5147058
- author
- Pärnamets, Philip
LU
; Johansson, Petter
LU
; Hall, Lars
LU
; Balkenius, Christian
LU
; Spivey, Michael J.
and Richardson, Daniel C.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- morality, decision making, eye tracking, visual attention, dynamical systems
- in
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- volume
- 112
- issue
- 13
- pages
- 4170 - 4175
- publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:25775604
- wos:000351914500086
- pmid:25775604
- scopus:84926059448
- ISSN
- 1091-6490
- DOI
- 10.1073/pnas.1415250112
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Authors and affiliations: Philip Pärnamets: Lund University Cognitive Science, Kungshuset, Lundagård, 222 22 Lund, Sweden Petter Johansson: Lund University Cognitive Science, Kungshuset, Lundagård, 222 22 Lund, Sweden Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, Thunbergsvägen 2, 752 38 Uppsala, Sweden Lars Hall: Lund University Cognitive Science, Kungshuset, Lundagård, 222 22 Lund, Sweden Christian Balkenius: Lund University Cognitive Science, Kungshuset, Lundagård, 222 22 Lund, Sweden Michael J. Spivey: Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA 95344, USA. Daniel C. Richardson: Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- id
- a415777c-aafa-4b3d-9f1e-56cba8a222e2 (old id 5147058)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 09:52:36
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:23:47
@article{a415777c-aafa-4b3d-9f1e-56cba8a222e2,
abstract = {{Eye gaze is a window onto cognitive processing in tasks such as spatial memory, linguistic processing, and decision making. We present evidence that information derived from eye gaze can be used to change the course of individuals’ decisions, even when they are reasoning about high-level, moral issues. Previous studies have shown that when an experimenter actively controls what an individual sees the experimenter can affect simple decisions with alternatives of almost equal valence. Here we show that if an experimenter passively knows when individuals move their eyes the experimenter can change complex moral decisions. This causal effect is achieved by simply adjusting the timing of the decisions. We monitored participants’ eye movements during a two-alternative forced-choice task with moral questions. One option was randomly predetermined as a target. At the moment participants had fixated the target option for a set amount of time we terminated their deliberation and prompted them to choose between the two alternatives. Although participants were unaware of this gaze-contingent manipulation, their choices were systematically biased toward the target option. We conclude that even abstract moral cognition is partly constituted by interactions with the immediate environment and is likely supported by gaze-dependent decision processes. By tracking the interplay between individuals, their sensorimotor systems, and the environment, we can influence the outcome of a decision without directly manipulating the content of the information available to them.}},
author = {{Pärnamets, Philip and Johansson, Petter and Hall, Lars and Balkenius, Christian and Spivey, Michael J. and Richardson, Daniel C.}},
issn = {{1091-6490}},
keywords = {{morality; decision making; eye tracking; visual attention; dynamical systems}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{13}},
pages = {{4170--4175}},
publisher = {{National Academy of Sciences}},
series = {{Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}},
title = {{Biasing moral decisions by exploiting the dynamics of eye gaze}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1415250112}},
doi = {{10.1073/pnas.1415250112}},
volume = {{112}},
year = {{2015}},
}