Hostname: page-component-7b9c58cd5d-6tpvb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-17T06:21:36.240Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An eye-tracking study of feature-based choice in one-shot games

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Giovanna Devetag ,
Sibilla Di Guida  and
Luca Polonio
Giovanna Devetag*
Affiliation:
Department of Business and Management, Luiss Guido Carli, Viale Pola 12, 00198 Rome, Italy
Sibilla Di Guida*
Affiliation:
Department of Business and Economics, COHERE, Syddansk Universitet, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark SBS-EM, ECARES, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Luca Polonio*
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Science and Education, University of Trento, Corso Bettini 31, 38068 Rovereto, Italy Center for Mind and Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Corso Bettini 31, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
*
giovanna.devetag@gmail.com
sidg@sam.sdu.dk
luca.polonio@unitn.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous experimental research suggests that individuals apply rules of thumb to a simplified mental model of the “real” decision problem. We claim that this simplification is obtained either by neglecting the other players’ incentives and beliefs or by taking them into consideration only for a subset of game outcomes. We analyze subjects’ eye movements while playing a series of two-person, 3 × 3 one-shot games in normal form. Games within each class differ by a set of descriptive features (i.e., features that can be changed without altering the game equilibrium properties). Data show that subjects on average perform partial or non-strategic analysis of the payoff matrix, often ignoring the opponent´s payoffs and rarely performing the necessary steps to detect dominance. Our analysis of eye-movements supports the hypothesis that subjects use simple decision rules such as “choose the strategy with the highest average payoff” or “choose the strategy leading to an attractive and symmetric outcome” without (optimally) incorporating knowledge on the opponent’s behavior. Lookup patterns resulted being feature and game invariant, heterogeneous across subjects, but stable within subjects. Using a cluster analysis, we find correlations between eye-movements and choices; however, applying the Cognitive Hierarchy model to our data, we show that only some of the subjects present both information search patterns and choices compatible with a specific cognitive level. We also find a series of correlations between strategic behavior and individual characteristics like risk attitude, short-term memory capacity, and mathematical and logical abilities.

Keywords

One-shot gamesEye-trackingFocal pointsIndividual behaviorBounded rationalityFeature-based choice

JEL classification

D01: Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles C91: Laboratory, Individual Behavior D83: Search • Learning • Information and Knowledge • Communication • Belief • Unawareness C72: Noncooperative Games
Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 177 - 201
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 Economic Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-015-9432-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

References

Arieli, A, Ben-Ami, Y, & Rubinstein, A (2011). Fairness motivations and procedures of choice between lotteries as revealed through eye movements. American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 3(4), 68–76.Google Scholar
Baron-Cohen, S. (2004). Questione di Cervello. La Differenza Essenziale tra Uomini e Donne. Mondadori.Google Scholar
Bhatt, M, & Camerer, CF (2005). Self-referential thinking and equilibrium as states of mind in games: fMRI evidence. Games and Economic Behavior, 52(2), 424–459. 10.1016/j.geb.2005.03.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolton, GE, & Ockenfels, A (2000). A theory of equity, reciprocity, and competition. American Economic Review, 90(1), 166–193. 10.1257/aer.90.1.166CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosch-Domènech, A, Montalvo, JG, Nagel, R, & Satorra, A (2002). One, two, (three), infinity,…: newspaper and lab beauty-contest experiments. American Economic Review, 92(5), 1687–1701. 10.1257/000282802762024737CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brocas, I, Carrillo, JD, Wang, SW, & Camerer, CF (2014). Imperfect choice or imperfect attention? Understanding strategic thinking in private information games. The Review of Economic Studies, 81(3), 944–970. 10.1093/restud/rdu001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camerer, CF, Ho, T-H, & Chong, J-K (2004). A cognitive hierarchy model of games. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 119(3), 861–898. 10.1162/0033553041502225CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, C.-T., Huagn, C.-Y., & Wang, J. T.-Y. (2013). A window of cognition: Eyetracking the reasoning process in spatial beauty contest games. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.405.5663&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 24 Feb 2015.Google Scholar
Costa-Gomes, M, & Crawford, VP (2006). cognition and behavior in two-person guessing games: An experimental study. American Economic Review, 96(5), 1737–1768. 10.1257/aer.96.5.1737CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa-Gomes, M, Crawford, VP, & Broseta, B (2001). Cognition and behavior in normal-forma games: An experimental study. Econometrica, 69(5), 1193–1235. 10.1111/1468-0262.00239CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa-Gomes, M, & Weizsäcker, G (2008). Stated beliefs and play in normal-form games. Review of Economic Studies, 75(3), 729–762. 10.1111/j.1467-937X.2008.00498.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, VP (2003). Lying for strategic advantage: rational and boundedly rational misrepresentation of intentions. American Economic Review, 93(1), 133–149. 10.1257/000282803321455197CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, VP, & Iriberri, N (2007). Fatal attraction: salience, naiveté, and sophistication in experimental “hide-and-seek” games. American Economic Review, American Economic Association, 97(5), 1731–1750. 10.1257/aer.97.5.1731CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, VP, & Iriberri, N (2007). Level-k auctions: Can a non-equilibrium model of strategic thinking explain the Winner’s curse and overbidding in private-value auctions?. Econometrica, 75(6), 1721–7170. 10.1111/j.1468-0262.2007.00810.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Devetag, G, & Warglien, M (2008). Playing the wrong game: An experimental analysis of relational complexity and strategic misrepresentation. Games and Economic Behavior, 62(2), 364–382. 10.1016/j.geb.2007.05.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di Guida, S, & Devetag, G (2013). Feature-based choice and similarity perception in normal-form games: An experimental study. Games, 4, 776–794. 10.3390/g4040776CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fehr, E, & Schmidt, KM (1999). A theory of fairness, competition. And Cooperation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(3), 817–868. 10.1162/003355399556151CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiedler, S, Glöckner, A, Nicklish, A, & Dickert, S (2013). Social value orientation and information search in social dilemmas: An eye-tracking analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 120(2), 272–284. 10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.07.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fraley, C, & Raftery, AE (2002). Model-based clustering, discriminant analysis, and density estimation. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 97(458), 611–631. 10.1198/016214502760047131CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frederick, S (2005). Cognitive reflection and decision making. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19(4), 25–42. 10.1257/089533005775196732CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, T-H, Camerer, CF, & Weigelt, K (1998). Iterated dominance and iterated best response in experimental “P-beauty contests”. American Economic Review, 88(4), 947–969.Google Scholar
Holt, CA, & Laury, SK (2002). Risk aversion and incentive effects. American Economic Review, 92(5), 1644–1655. 10.1257/000282802762024700CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hristova, E., & Grinberg, M. (2005). Information acquisition in the iterated prisoner’s dilemma game: An eye-tracking study. In Proceedings of the 27th annual conference of the cognitive science society (pp. 983–988).Google Scholar
Johnson, EJ, Camerer, CF, Sen, S, & Rymon, T (2002). Detecting failures of backward induction: Monitoring information search in sequential bargaining. Journal of Economic Theory, 104(1), 16–47. 10.1006/jeth.2001.2850CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knoepfle, D, Wang, JT, & Camerer, CF (2009). Studying learning in games using eye-tracking. Journal of the European Economic Association, 7(2–3), 388–398. 10.1162/JEEA.2009.7.2-3.388CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manor, BR, & Gordon, E (2003). Defining the temporal threshold for ocular fixation in free-viewing visuocognitive tasks. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 128(1–2), 85–93. 10.1016/S0165-0270(03)00151-1CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nagel, R (1995). Unraveling in guessing games: An experimental study. American Economic Review, 85(5), 1313–1326.Google Scholar
Rabin, M (1993). Incorporating fairness into game theory and economics. American Economic Review, 83(5), 1281–1302.Google Scholar
Rydval, O, Ortmann, A, & Ostatnicky, M (2009). Three very simple games and what it takes to solve them. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 72(1), 589–601. 10.1016/j.jebo.2009.05.011CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stahl, DO, & Wilson, PW (1994). Experimental evidence on players’ models of other players. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 25(3), 309–327. 10.1016/0167-2681(94)90103-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stahl, D, & Wilson, PW (1995). On players’ models of other players: Theory and experimental evidence. Games and Economic Behavior, 10(1), 218–254. 10.1006/game.1995.1031CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, N., Gächter, S., Noguchi, T., & Mullett, T. L. (2015). Eye movements in strategy choice. Mimeo. http://www.stewart.warwick.ac.uk/publications/papers/Stewart_Gaechter_Noguchi_Mullett_2015.pdf.Google Scholar
Unsworth, N, & Engle, RW (2007). On the division of short-term and working memory: An examination of simple and complex span and their relation to higher order abilities. Psychological Bulletin, 133(6), 1038–1066. 10.1037/0033-2909.133.6.1038CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walsh, WB, & Betz, NE (1990). Tests and assessment, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Wang, JT, Spezio, M, & Camerer, CF (2010). Pinocchio’s pupil: Using eyetracking and pupil dilation to understand truth-telling and deception in games. American Economic Review, 100(3), 984–1007. 10.1257/aer.100.3.984CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D (1987). Manual for the Wechsler memory scale-revised, San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Weizsäcker, G (2003). Ignoring the rationality of others: Evidence from experimental normal-form games. Games and Economic Behavior, 44(1), 145–171. 10.1016/S0899-8256(03)00017-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Devetag et al. supplementary material

Appendices
Download Devetag et al. supplementary material(File)
File 377.1 KB