FROMANNUAL REVIEWS

CogSci 2025

•

August 01, 2025

•

San Francisco, United States

keywords:

computational modeling

decision making

learning

eye tracking

psychology

Context-dependent reinforcement learning (RL) challenges the assumption that decision makers encode the absolute values of choice outcomes. This study investigates whether the associated choice biases arise from a relative encoding of outcomes or an alternative mechanism involving cumulative reward learning and selective attention to outcomes. Using eye tracking, participants completed a RL task where choice options were initially learned in fixed contexts before being tested in novel pairings. Results revealed an overall preference for options that were contextually favored in the learning phase, even when these preferences violated expected value maximization. Computational model comparisons demonstrated that hybrid encoding models, incorporating absolute and relative values, provided the best overall account of individual behavior. While eye fixations on choice outcomes decreased over trials, fixation-dependent RL models did not fit the data well, suggesting that overt visual attention patterns do not fully explain context-dependent choice biases.

Downloads

Paper

Next from CogSci 2025

Human and Nonhuman Learning of Hierarchical Structures in a Lindenmayer Grammar
poster

Human and Nonhuman Learning of Hierarchical Structures in a Lindenmayer Grammar

CogSci 2025

Elijah Tramm and 1 other author

01 August 2025

Similar lecture

Relative Value Biases in Large Language Models
technical paper

Relative Value Biases in Large Language Models

CogSci 2024

William Hayes

27 July 2024

Stay up to date with the latest Underline news!

Select topic of interest (you can select more than one)

PRESENTATIONS

  • All Presentations
  • For Librarians
  • Resource Center
  • Free Trial
Underline Science, Inc.
1216 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA

© 2026 Underline - All rights reserved

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.