Strategies When Choosing Between Movement Options in a Sequential Task

Previous research revealed that when actors select and complete only 1 of 2 movement options (Task-A OR Task-B), rational decision-makers choose the task with the maximum expected gain (MEG). The present study was designed to determine if actors choose to perform the task with the higher or lower MEG first when actors sequentially perform one task and then the other task (Task-A THEN Task-B). Participants were presented with 2 target-penalty configurations in which a target circle was partially overlapped by an equivalently-sized penalty circle. Configurations varied in the value of the penalty region and the amount of overlap (a spatial property related to the probability of the actor contacting the target and/or penalty regions) such that the configurations could have similar or different MEGs. Participants imagined sequentially performing aiming movements to both configurations, one after another, and indicated which of the two configurations they imagined aiming to first. Whenever the MEGs of the two options differed, most participants indicated that they would aim to the configuration with the higher MEG first more often than aiming to the configuration with the lower MEG first. When configurations had similar MEGs, most participants indicated that they would move first to the configuration with a larger exposed target region (greater probability of success) and higher penalty value, though some individual differences in strategies were noted. Overall, the data suggest that when presented with a sequential task, participants choose to perform the task with a higher potential gain before the task with the lower potential gain.