In the current proposal, we will attempt to bias participants’ performance to overcome such cases in which volitional abilities are hampered. In contrast to previous studies that have tried to manipulate neural regions that are involved in decision making and control, we suggest to bypass those mechanisms and influence behavior by directly activating neural centers that control attention and eye movement. Building on recent developments in computational modeling of decision making and attention, we suggest using tDCS for overcoming habitual behavior by manipulating participants’ choices and biasing it against habitual responses. Specifically, we seek to influence participants’ “free choice” by activating neural mechanisms that will produce an attentional bias towards one option over the other without their awareness of the manipulation. The rationale of this approach comes from a line of studies demonstrating that the choices people make are tightly linked to attentional deployment and eye movements. Using online feedback based on computational models of attention allocation, a causal link has been shown between eye movements and decisions, so that attention and the direction of gaze can influence choices

In the current proposal, we suggest using tDCS to activate participants’ frontal eye field (FEF), a region implicated in the programing of saccadic eye movements and attentional orienting, with the intention of manipulating participants’ tendency to choose one target over the other. We will first examine whether tDCS can be used to bias participants’ choices in a free choice task. In the second phase of the project, we will use this technique to overcome habits that will be formed within a laboratory setting, shifting choices towards non-habitual over habitual responses. Finally, we will evaluate whether this technique can be applied to overcome real-life harmful habits involving self-control and attention, such as emotional eating.

This proposal has the potential to establish a new therapeutic protocol to overcome harmful and health-risking habits. By implementing tDCS as a non-invasive therapeutic tool, and the use of a carefully designed training protocol, we hope to empower people to explore new behavioral possibilities beyond their old pattern. The proposed experiments may provide novel scientific insights concerning the neural mechanisms that control the interactions between attention and habit formation.