Schedule of Events | Search Abstracts | Invited Symposia | Symposia | Poster Sessions | Data Blitz

Real-time mouse movements reveal decision-making processes between competing goals and predict subsequent memory

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Arlene Lormestoire¹, Wangjing Yu², Lila Davachi¹; ¹Columbia University, ²New York University

We are constantly faced with conflicting choices in everyday life. This can occur in pursuit of one goal (e.g., choosing compass A or B for a hiking trip), or multiple related goals (e.g., choosing hat A or B for a hiking trip versus a beach trip). However, it remains unclear how people make such decisions and how subsequent memories are impacted. To test this, participants were asked to sort items into one of two goals (e.g., a hat for a hiking trip versus a beach trip). Each item was either compatible with one goal only (unique condition) or both goals (competing condition). Critically, for some items, participants were shown two exemplars (e.g., hats A and B) and asked to make related decisions across the task; participants decided whether these exemplars satisfied the same or different goals. To track moment-by-moment decision-making processes, we recorded participants’ mouse movement as they assigned items to goals. Compared to the unique condition, mouse trajectories in the competing condition had longer distances and showed greater pre-decision attraction toward the unselected choice, indicating greater deliberation during decision-making. When later asked to recall the presentation frequency of each item, participants had higher accuracy for items that satisfied competing goals than those that satisfied one unique goal. Further, greater spatial attraction toward the competing choice during the decision phase predicted better frequency memory later on. Overall, our results reveal that behavioral measures of competition predict separation of memories for competing content associated with different decisions.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Other