A reinforcement learning and sequential sampling model constrained by gaze data

Abstract

Reinforcement learning models can be combined with sequential sampling models to fit choice-RT data. The combined models, known as RL-SSMs, explain a wide range of choice-RT patterns in repeated decision tasks. The present study shows how constraining an RL-SSM with eye gaze data can further enhance its predictive ability. Our model allows learned option values and relative gaze to jointly influence the accumulation of evidence prior to choice. We evaluate the model on data from two eye-tracking experiments (total N = 133) and test several variants of the model that assume different mechanisms for integrating values and gaze at the decision stage. Further, we show that it captures a variety of empirical effects, including gaze biases on choice and response time, as well as individual differences in absolute versus relative valuation. The model can be used to understand how learned option values interact with visual attention to influence choice, joining together two major (but mostly separate) modeling traditions.