2026/05/26 by Christoph Strauch, Stefan Van der Stigchel, Sanyukta S Nair +1 · 1 voice
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies #Motor Control and Adaptation #Action Observation and Synchronization
paper · doi:10.64898/2026.05.22.727072
Abstract Sensorimotor decisions require balancing extrinsic rewards against intrinsic action costs. How these signals are integrated during rapid eye-movement choices remains unclear. We show that human saccade selection follows cost-benefit computations consistent with neuroeconomic decision-making. Across two experiments, participants maximized rewards and minimized effort-costs. Reward titration revealed that more effortful saccades required higher monetary rewards to be chosen equally often. While effort-costs affected choices linearly, small reward differences shifted choices more than equally-sized larger ones. Furthermore, effort-cost (but not reward) differences regulated decision engagement: Deliberation was extended only when cost differences were large. Together, costs and rewards play dissociable roles in saccade selection, positioning eye movements as a tractable model system for economic decision-making.