How Novelty Affects Decision Making in the Brain

Sample size: 15 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Bianca C. Wittmann, Nathaniel D. Daw, Ben Seymour, Raymond J. Dolan

Primary Institution: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London

Do brain systems associated with choice behavior use novelty bonuses to encourage exploration of unfamiliar options?

The study found that novelty enhances behavioral exploration in humans, with brain activity in the striatum linked to this effect.

Novelty significantly enhanced exploration in decision-making tasks.
Brain activity in the striatum correlated with the novelty bonus.
Participants' choices were better explained by a model incorporating novelty bonuses.
Individual differences in novelty seeking were linked to striatal activation.
Participants were more likely to choose novel images over familiar ones.
Neural signals related to novelty bonuses were observed in the ventral striatum.
Exploration of novel options was associated with reward processing in the brain.
Findings suggest a computational mechanism for using novelty as a signal for uncertainty.

People like to try new things because their brains get excited about novelty, which helps them make better choices.

Participants performed a choice task while undergoing fMRI to measure brain activity related to novelty and decision making.

Potential biases in participant selection and the artificial nature of the task may affect generalizability.

The study's findings may not apply to all decision-making contexts, especially those involving risk or danger.

15 right-handed adults, mean age 26.1, 7 males.

0.01

0.41 ± 0.076 pounds for novel pictures; 0.37 ± 0.071 pounds for familiar pictures

p<0.005

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