A bias toward the unknown: individual and environmental factors influencing exploratory behavior. Issue 1 (25th February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Petzke, Tara M.; Schomaker, Judith
• Is Part Of: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Volume 1512:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 61
• Page End: 75
• Publication Date: 2022-02-25
• Subjects: novelty -- exploration -- food choices -- value -- surprise -- decision making; Medical sciences -- Periodicals; Medicine -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals; 610
• DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14757
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0077-8923

Abstract

Abstract: With limited resources, exploring new opportunities is crucial for survival. Exploring novel options, however, comes at the cost of uncertainty. Therefore, there is a trade‐off between exploiting options with a known beneficial outcome and exploring novel options with a potentially higher gain. Computational models have suggested that novelty may promote exploratory behavior by inducing a so‐called novelty bonus through reward‐related processes. So far, few studies have provided behavioral evidence for such a novelty bonus. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether spatial novelty can stimulate exploratory behavior (Experiment 1), and whether age, novelty‐seeking, and reduced action radius or social interactions due to COVID‐19 restrictions influenced the exploration–exploitation trade‐off (Experiment 2). In both experiments, we employed a novel paradigm in which participants made binary decisions between food items, while on rare trials, a surprise option was presented. Results from Experiment 1 are in line with a novelty bonus, with spatial novelty promoting exploratory behavior. In Experiment 2, we found that exploratory behavior declined with age, high novelty seekers made more exploratory choices than low novelty seekers, and participants with a smaller action radius made fewer exploratory choices. These findings are consistent with previous findings in animals and predictions from computational models. Abstract : No studies so far have addressed the role of the novelty‐seeking trait in the exploration–exploitation trade‐off in food‐related choices in humans. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether spatial novelty can stimulate exploratory behavior, and whether age, novelty‐seeking, and reduced action radius or social interactions due to COVID‐19 restrictions influenced the exploration–exploitation trade‐off.