Covert attention dynamically shapes decision making

Decision-making is driven by where attention is allocated during choice. Humans can attend through both overt eye gaze as well as covertly, yet investigations of attention’s role in choice have been largely confined to overt eye movements. Here, we combine an attentional probe with value-based choice to directly measure how covert attention is allocated to peripheral options during decision-making. Results revealed that covert attention itself is dynamically shaped by decision-relevant factors, such as the decision relevance and value of peripheral options, and comes at the expense of what is overtly attended. Further, covert attention exerted downstream consequences for choice behavior, attenuating fixation-linked choice biases. By demonstrating that attentional influences on decision-making extend beyond eye gaze, our findings challenge current gaze-based accounts of choice, and motivate decision-making models that incorporate covert attentional mechanisms alongside overt attentional dynamics.