Gaze Correlates of Value-Based Decision Making in Nature and Urban Scenes

Value-based decisions unfold over time through interactions between gaze and preference. Yet, how these aspects interact in the context of environment-related decisions, particularly when individuals are asked to directly compare nature and urban scenes for their likeability, remains unclear. Drawing on the attentional drift diffusion model (aDDM), this study examined whether visual attention and environmental preferences reflect intrinsic differences between scene types or emerge from individual valuation processes. Participants completed a two-alternative forced choice task in which they selected their preferred image from pairs of nature and urban scenes while eye movements were recorded. Files contain gaze metrics including first saccade direction, fixation count, and fixation duration alongside likeability ratings.