Beyond discrete-choice options

Trends Cogn Sci. 2024 Sep;28(9):857-870. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.07.004. Epub 2024 Aug 12.

Abstract

While decision theories have evolved over the past five decades, their focus has largely been on choices among a limited number of discrete options, even though many real-world situations have a continuous-option space. Recently, theories have attempted to address decisions with continuous-option spaces, and several computational models have been proposed within the sequential sampling framework to explain how we make a decision in continuous-option space. This article aims to review the main attempts to understand decisions on continuous-option spaces, give an overview of applications of these types of decisions, and present puzzles to be addressed by future developments.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Choice Behavior* / physiology
  • Decision Making / physiology
  • Decision Theory
  • Humans
  • Models, Psychological