The effect of information gap and uncertainty on curiosity and its resolution

Singh, Aditya; Manjaly, Jaison A.

doi:10.1080/20445911.2021.1908311

Cited by 21 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Notably, they may also use such an opportunity for gaining feedback on the accuracy of information they generated during a recall attempt. This would be in line with the general notion that curiosity serves to reduce uncertainty, and with specific findings suggesting that uncertainty about one's answers to knowledge questions can drive curiosity 9,38 . From this perspective one might expect to observe a familiarity preference in information-seeking even after recall attempts that are characterised by perceived success in generating pertinent information.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 84%

“…The results of Experiment 2 show that this preference is not limited to situations in which this recall attempt was perceived to be unsuccessful; trials in which recall of names for previously studied faces was perceived to be successful led to a comparable subsequent tendency to seek out these names as trials in which recall was unsuccessful but the corresponding face was perceived to be familiar. We suggest that this pattern of results can be interpreted within a framework that links curiosity to the degree of uncertainty in the accuracy of information that is available to fill information gaps 8,9,29,38,40 . In Experiment 3, we sought more direct evidence in support of this account, by examining more closely how metacognitive retrieval experiences about the perceived degree of accuracy of recall are related to familiarity preferences in subsequent information-seeking behaviour.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…From this perspective, the degree of uncertainty in the answer that was generated during recall marks the size of the perceived information gap, with answers accompanied by relatively higher uncertainty corresponding to larger perceived gaps in one's knowledge. Indeed, in a recent study that probed determinants of curiosity in the trivia paradigm, Singh and Manjaly reported that curiosity and information-seeking behaviour increase in direct response to the degree of uncertainty, even when the amount of missing information is the same 38 . Experiment 3 of the current study revealed evidence in support of the notion that familiarity preferences in information-seeking may also be tied to uncertainty in the behavioural paradigm we employed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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When familiarity not novelty motivates information-seeking behaviour

Brooks¹,

Whitehead²,

Köhler³

2022

Preprint

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Research has established that novelty motivates information-seeking behaviour in many situations. While novelty preferences have been well-studied, an understanding of conditions under which familiarity trumps novelty remains limited. Recent work has revealed that when a metacognitive experience indicates that unsuccessfully recalled information may still be available, a subsequent tendency to seek out unrecalled familiar information can emerge. We conducted three experiments to identify critical factors that determine when familiarity preferences can be observed. Experiment 1 demonstrated the critical role of a recent unsuccessful recall attempt in inducing such a preference. Experiment 2 revealed that the impact of recall attempts is not limited to situations that follow unsuccessful recall, as a familiarity preference was observed even when information was successfully generated. Experiment 3 showed that the level of confidence in the accuracy of recalled information is a key factor, with moderate levels of confidence leading to the strongest subsequent familiarity preference. Together, our results suggest that novelty preferences in information-seeking are not ubiquitous, as specific task demands including attempted memory retrieval, as well as metacognitive retrieval experiences, can induce familiarity preferences. Our findings can be interpreted within theoretical frameworks that emphasise the role of knowledge gaps as driving factors of information-seeking.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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When familiarity not novelty motivates information-seeking behaviour

Brooks¹,

Whitehead²,

Köhler³

2022

Preprint

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“…When participants generate predictions, the personal information gap will also increase in the process of expecting the correct answer, thus further reinforcing curiosity. Singh and Manjaly (2021) designed an experiment on a missing letter to test participants’ curiosity. The second, fourth, and seventh letters of a word were missing, and each participant was required to complete them.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on the effect of uncertain rewards on impulsive purchase intention of blind box products

Zhang

Zhou

Qin

2022

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Since 2019, China has gradually seen a “blind box” boom, and young people have quickly become the main buying force of blind boxes, promoting the continuous development of the blind box industry. Previous studies have shown that uncertainty in events with positive prospects can play a more positive role than certainty. However, how does uncertainty in the blind box affect consumers’ emotions and cognition and trigger subsequent consumption decisions? To clarify the internal mechanism of this process, this paper takes the blind box as the research object and constructs the mechanism model of perceived uncertainty on consumers’ impulsive purchase intention, based on Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory. In addition, the curiosity variable and perceived luck variable are introduced according to the information gap theory and optimism theory. On this basis, we conduct an empirical analysis by means of a questionnaire survey. The results show that perceived uncertainty has a positive impact on consumers’ impulsive purchase intentions, in which curiosity plays a mediating role. Besides, perceived luck positively moderates the impact of perceived uncertainty on impulsive purchase intention. This study clarifies the internal impact of perceived uncertainty on impulsive purchase intention of the blind box and enriches the basic theory of uncertainty reward and purchase intention. At the same time, we also offer related recommendations for future enterprises to learn from the marketing model of uncertain rewards.

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“…Learners should prefer to choose the information that is slightly above their current strength of knowledge to optimize their learning (Metcalfe et al, 2020;. The other function of confidence in curiosity might be associated with wanting to confirm or verify predictions as a way of updating one's prior schema of the world (Singh & Manjaly, 2021). The more confidence in a prediction, the more curiosity would be provoked (Theobald et al, 2022;Wade & Kidd, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Limits of Curiosity? New Evidence for the Roles of Metacognitive Abilities and Curiosity in Learning

X¹,

Twomey²,

Westermann³

2022

Preprint

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The current study investigates how metacognitive abilities such as confidence and prior knowledge estimates relate to curiosity. We also investigate the roles of these metacognitive abilities and curiosity in predicting learning. Instead of using linguistically-mediated information such as trivia questions as in the majority of research on curiosity, this study used blurred images of day-to-day objects and living creatures across a wide range of categories, aiming to improve ecological validity and extend the generalisability of research findings in the curiosity field. In this online study, participants were presented with a set of blurred pictures. For each blurred picture, participants were asked to provide a best guess for the identity of the blurred picture, and whether they knew the answer, then rated their confidence in their guess as well as their level of curiosity about the image. Our findings suggest that metacognitive abilities such as subjective prior knowledge estimates and confidence predict curiosity, such that negative subjective prior knowledge estimates and high confidence are associated with higher curiosity. We also find that learning is best predicted by a learner’s metacognitive appraisal of their knowledge gap, especially when they are at the verge of knowing. Further, this learning enhancement is independent of curiosity. These findings have important educational implications in the context of promoting learners’ curiosity, highlighting the role of metacognitive abilities in learning.

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The effect of information gap and uncertainty on curiosity and its resolution

Cited by 21 publications

References 55 publications

When familiarity not novelty motivates information-seeking behaviour

When familiarity not novelty motivates information-seeking behaviour

Research on the effect of uncertain rewards on impulsive purchase intention of blind box products

The Limits of Curiosity? New Evidence for the Roles of Metacognitive Abilities and Curiosity in Learning

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