A Proposal of Mathematical Approach to Formulate Emotional Desensitization to Novelty

Abstract

Novelty is an important factor of creativity in product design. Acceptance of novelty, however, depends on one's emotions. Raymond Loewy, a pioneer of industrial design, defined a broader term between attraction of novelty and fear of the unknown MAYA (Most advanced, yet acceptable), which is important for new designs that are widely accepted in society. Yanagisawa et al. (2019) developed a mathematical model of emotion dimensions associated with novelty such as arousal (surprise) and valence (positivity and negativity). The model formalized arousal as Bayesian information gain and valence as a function of arousal based on Berlyne's arousal potential theory. On the one hand, people get used to novelty by repeated exposure. This so-called desensitization to novelty is an important factor to consider in the design of long-term products experience. In this paper, we proposed a mathematical model of desensitization to novelty based on the emotion dimension model. We formalized the desensitization as a decrement of information gained from a novel event through Bayesian update. We derived the information gained from repeated exposure of a novel stimulus as a function of three parameters: initial prediction error, initial uncertainty and noise of sensory stimulus. With the proposed model, we found an interaction effect of initial prediction error and initial uncertainty on desensitization (decrement of information gain). Furthermore, we demonstrated that a range of positive emotions on prediction errors shifted towards more novel by repeated novelty exposure. The experimental results of previous studies supported this simulation results.

How predictability affects habituation to novelty

“…In this study, we envisaged the effects of predictability on habituation to novelty by applying the Bayesian update model and assuming that a decrement in information gain (i.e., arousal) represents habituation to novelty [12,15,16]. We then conducted an experiment using subjective reports and physiological indices (P300) to provide experimental evidence for the model's predictions.…”

“…We mathematically formulated habituation to repeated exposure of novel stimuli based on our previously proposed model of emotional dimensions associated with novelty [12,15,16]. A novel event provides new information.…”

“…In this study, we assumed decrement of arousal evoked by the same event as habituation to novelty and aimed to elucidate how predictability affects habituation to novelty. We investigated the effect of predictability on habituation to novelty by applying our mathematical model of arousal [12,15,16]. We formulated habituation to novelty as a decrement in information gain (KL divergence from prior to posterior) representing arousal through prior updating by Bayesian posterior in our previous study [15,16].…”

“…We investigated the effect of predictability on habituation to novelty by applying our mathematical model of arousal [12,15,16]. We formulated habituation to novelty as a decrement in information gain (KL divergence from prior to posterior) representing arousal through prior updating by Bayesian posterior in our previous study [15,16]. In this study, we predicted the effects of the predictability (uncertainty and prediction error) on the time-course change of arousal as the primary factors constituting novelty through mathematical simulation of the model.…”

How predictability affects habituation to novelty?

“…We mathematically formulated habituation to repeated exposure of novel stimuli based on our previously proposed model of emotional dimensions associated with novelty (12,26,27).…”