How predictability affects habituation to novelty?

Abstract

One becomes accustomed to repeated exposures, even for a novel event. In the present study, we investigated how predictability affects habituation to novelty by applying a mathematical model of arousal that we previously developed, and conducted a psychophysiological experiment to test the model prediction. We formalized habituation to novelty as a decrement in Kullback-Leibler divergence from Bayesian prior to posterior (i.e., information gain) representing arousal evoked from a novel event through Bayesian update. The model predicted an interaction effect between initial uncertainty and initial prediction error (i.e., predictability) on habituation to novelty: The greater the initial uncertainty, the faster the information gain decreases (i.e., the sooner one is habituated). Experimental results using subjective reports of surprise and event-related potential (P300) evoked by visual-auditory incongruity supported the model prediction. Our findings suggest that in highly uncertain situations, repeated exposure to stimuli may enhance habituation to novel stimuli.

Quantitative evaluation of sense of discrepancy of operation response using event-related potential

“…In addition, the P300 amplitude declined over time for both types of operation responses. Previous studies have shown that the P300 amplitude decreased with repeated presentation using simple and passive stimulus (Polich, 1989;Lew and Polich, 1993;Polich and McIsaac, 1994;Romero and Polich, 1996;Ravden and Polich, 1998;Pan et al, 2000;Wintink et al, 2001;Kececi et al, 2006;Fonken et al, 2019;Barry et al, 2020;Ueda et al, 2020). Those findings are consistent with the current findings of the attenuation of the P300 amplitude to the operation response during repeated product manipulation.…”

“…In a series of studies on brain activity related to habituation to stimuli using the P300, Polich et al showed that the P300 amplitude was attenuated by repeated exposure to the stimuli (Polich, 1989;Lew and Polich, 1993;Polich and McIsaac, 1994;Romero and Polich, 1996;Ravden and Polich, 1998;. In recent years, several studies have also examined the habituation to stimuli using P300 (Pan et al, 2000;Wintink et al, 2001;Kececi et al, 2006;Mars et al, 2008;Fonken et al, 2019;Barry et al, 2020;Ueda et al, 2020). However, they have all investigated habituation to simple or passive stimuli.…”