Emerging Principles of Attention and Information Demand. (April 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gottlieb, Jacqueline
• Is Part Of: Current directions in psychological science. Volume 32:Number 2(2023)
• Page Start: 152
• Page End: 159
• Publication Date: 2023-04
• Subjects: information seeking -- computational rationality -- uncertainty -- reward -- attention; Psychology -- Periodicals; 150
• DOI: 10.1177/09637214221142778
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-7214

Abstract

I review recent literature on information demand and its implications for attention control. I argue that this literature motivates a view of attention as a mechanism that reduces uncertainty by selectively sampling sensory stimuli on the basis of expected information gain (EIG). I discuss emerging evidence on how individuals estimate the two quantities that determine EIG, prior uncertainty and stimulus diagnosticity (predictive accuracy). I also discuss the neural mechanisms that compute EIG and integrate it with rewards in frontoparietal, executive, and neuromodulatory circuits. I end by considering the implications of this framework for a broader understanding of the factors that assign relevance to sensory stimuli and the role of attention in decision making and other cognitive functions.