The postdictive effect of choice reflects the modulation of attention on choice

Abstract

Our conscious perception of the world is not an instantaneous moment-by-moment construction, but rather the information subsequent in time seems to affect the percept of the prior event, which was known as postdictive effect. A recent study reported this postdictive effect could even occur in choice decision. The present study sought to test whether the striking postdictive effect of choice reflects the modulation of attention on choice, by directly and systematically manipulating attention in two experiments. Specifically, Experiment 1 revealed that the robust postdictive effect of choice was almost completely eliminated when the attentional bias triggered by a sudden color change was removed. More importantly, Experiment 2 demonstrated that the postdictive effect of choice could be modulated by directly manipulating participants’ attention with a spatial cue, in particular when the cue appeared at short time delays (less than 500 ms). These findings suggest that choice decision could be considerably postdicted by attention and this effect was most pronounced within a short time window wherein the decision was most likely in progress.