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DTSTART:20250101T000000
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DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260831T134500
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20260831T144500
DTSTAMP:20260829T052701Z
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UID:98155-1788183900-1788187500@www.ashoka.edu.in
SUMMARY:Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Curiosity is often explained as a motivation to reduce uncertainty and acquire information. However\, people may also be especially motivated to seek information that can confirm what they suspect to be true. In this talk\, I discuss a dual-motivational account of curiosity in which information seeking is driven by both uncertainty reduction and confirmation seeking—the motivation to verify one’s most plausible hypothesis. \nIn an initial set of studies\, participants attempted to identify words with missing letters. Curiosity was highest at moderate levels of uncertainty and declined when uncertainty became very high\, reproducing the inverted-U-shaped pattern commonly observed in curiosity research. However\, when the correct word was subsequently revealed\, participants were most satisfied when their initial guess was correct and when the answer was familiar. Satisfaction was not predicted by prior uncertainty or curiosity intensity. These findings suggest that resolving an information gap may be rewarding not only because it reduces uncertainty\, but also because it validates existing knowledge. \nI tested this account directly using the Persons Game\, in which participants identified an unknown target person by selecting a sequence of yes-or-no questions. Each available question varied in its expected information gain\, quantified using Shannon entropy\, and its probability of receiving affirmative feedback. Participants preferred questions that combined high information value with a greater likelihood of confirmation. Receiving both informative and affirmative feedback was also associated with greater subsequent engagement. \nTogether\, these findings show that curiosity reflects the joint influence of two motivations: learning something new and testing whether one’s current understanding is correct. This account offers a new explanation for the inverted-U-shaped relationship between uncertainty and curiosity and provides broader insight into how people select and remain engaged with information. \nAbout the Speaker: Aditya Singh is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Halle\, Germany. His research examines the cognitive and motivational mechanisms underlying curiosity-driven learning\, and how these insights can be applied to support student motivation and learning in the classroom. He earned his PhD in Cognitive Science from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar.
URL:https://www.ashoka.edu.in/event/psychology-and-cognitive-sciences-seminar/
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