Curiosity and mesolimbic functional connectivity drive information seeking in real life

Eschmann, Kathrin C. J.; Pereira, Duarte F. M. M.; Valji, Ashvanti; Dehmelt, Vera; Gruber, Matthias J.

doi:10.1101/2022.01.28.478038

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(71 reference statements)

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“…In addition to research on animal exploration, our results align with several initial studies on how curiosity triggers human information-seeking and exploratory behaviour, and are the first in the domain of spatial exploration. These recent studies have shown that curiosity affects information-seeking and exploratory behaviours such as Wikipedia online search (Lydon-Staley et al, 2021) and COVID-19-related information seeking (Eschmann et al, 2022). It has also been shown that curiosity states motivate anticipatory gaze towards the predicted position of upcoming curiosity-relieving information (Baranes et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, one indication that curiosity might affect spatial exploration comes from findings on how curiosity affects information seeking in the context of knowledge acquisition. For example, it has been found that participants who show generally higher trait levels of curiosity tend to seek more real-life information (e.g., seeking more information about closely related concepts on Wikipedia; Lydon-Staley et al, 2021; informing themselves more often about COVID-19-related news; Eschmann et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Curiosity shapes spatial exploration and cognitive map formation in humans

Cen¹,

Hodgetts²,

Gruber³

2022

Preprint

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Exploration of novel environments is key to building cognitive maps across species. While influential theories have highlighted curiosity as one of the primary drivers of exploratory behaviour, the relationship between curiosity and human spatial exploration is unknown. To address this, we designed a virtual reality paradigm in which participants rated their curiosity before - and interest after - exploring novel rooms (i.e., pre-room curiosity vs. post-room interest). We indexed the complexity of exploratory behaviour using roaming entropy for both spatial and head-direction movement. Our findings revealed a double dissociation, whereby pre-room curiosity states were associated with the magnitude of path roaming entropy (spatial exploration), and post-room interest states were associated with the magnitude of head-direction roaming entropy (visual exploration). These results provide novel evidence for a direct link between subjective feelings of curiosity and different facets of exploratory behaviour, providing insights into how curiosity motivates the formation of cognitive maps.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Curiosity shapes spatial exploration and cognitive map formation in humans

Cen¹,

Hodgetts²,

Gruber³

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Early observations reveal that animals, like humans, acquire information about their world even if that information is of no apparent extrinsic value 1,2 . More recent experiments have addressed the nature of the brain representations of information involved in information seeking decisions [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] , but the question as to how the brain identifies sensory stimuli as informative and computes their intrinsic value remains elusive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representations of the intrinsic value of information in mouse orbitofrontal cortex

Bussell,

Badman,

Márton

et al. 2023

Preprint

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SUMMARYAnimals are motivated to acquire knowledge of their world. They seek information that does not influence reward outcomes suggesting that information has intrinsic value. We have asked whether mice value information and whether a representation of information value can be detected in mouse orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). We have developed an odor-based behavioral task in which mice choose to acquire information even though it does not alter the reward outcome. We observe that mice choose to acquire knowledge about uncertain reward and are willing to sacrifice water for information suggesting that knowledge is of intrinsic value to a mouse. We imaged neural activity in OFC while mice performed the information seeking task and observed different but overlapping populations of neurons responsive to odors predictive of information and odors predictive of water reward. Moreover, a nonlinear latent variable model recapitulated these distinct representations in the low-dimensional dynamics of OFC neuronal population activity. These data suggest that mice have evolved distinct pathways in OFC that represent the intrinsic value of knowledge and the extrinsic value of water reward. Thus, the desire to acquire knowledge is conserved in mice and the value of knowledge is represented in the OFC.

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Curiosity and mesolimbic functional connectivity drive information seeking in real life

Cited by 2 publications

References 44 publications

Curiosity shapes spatial exploration and cognitive map formation in humans

Curiosity shapes spatial exploration and cognitive map formation in humans

Representations of the intrinsic value of information in mouse orbitofrontal cortex

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