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Tracking the Decision‐Making Process in Multiple‐Choice Assessment: Evidence from Eye Movements
Author(s) -
Lindner Marlit Annalena,
Eitel Alexander,
Thoma GunBrit,
Dalehefte Inger Marie,
Ihme Jan Marten,
Köller Olaf
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.3060
Subject(s) - psychology , generalizability theory , gaze , eye tracking , preference , cognitive psychology , eye movement , social psychology , developmental psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science , neuroscience , psychoanalysis , economics , microeconomics
Summary This study investigated students' decision‐making processes in a knowledge‐assessing multiple‐choice (MC) test using eye‐tracking methodology. More precisely, the gaze bias effect (more attention to more preferred options) and its relation to domain knowledge were the focus of the study. Eye movements of students with high (HPK) and low (LPK) prior domain knowledge were recorded while they solved 21 MC items. Afterwards, students rated every answer option according to their subjective preference. As expected, both HPK and LPK students showed a gaze bias towards subjectively preferred answer options, whereby HPK students spent more time on objectively correct answers. Furthermore, a fine‐grained time‐course analysis showed similar patterns of attention distribution over time for both HPK and LPK students, when focusing on subjective preference levels. Thus, these data offer a new perspective on knowledge‐related MC item solving and provide evidence for the generalizability of the gaze bias effect across decision tasks. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.