Orienting Response - Function - Orienting in Decision-Making

Orienting in Decision-Making

The orienting response is believed to play an integral role in preference formation. When faced with deciding between two options, subjects in studies by Simion & Shimojo were shown to choose the items they preferentially orient their gaze toward. This gaze can occur while the stimulus is present or after it has been removed, the latter causing gaze to be fixated at the point in which the stimulus had been present. Interestingly, gaze bias ceases following a decision, suggesting that gaze bias is the cause of preference and not its effect. Noting this postulated causal link with the irrelevance of a stimulus presence, it is argued that gaze orientation supports decision-making mechanisms in inducing a preferential bias.

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