Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity
Curiosity is one of the most basic biological drives in both animals and humans, and has been identified as a key motive for learning and discovery. Despite the importance of curiosity and related behaviors, the topic has been largely neglected in human neuroscience; hence little is known about the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2012-02-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00005/full |
| _version_ | 1828273508764876800 |
|---|---|
| author | Marieke eJepma Marieke eJepma Rinus G Verdonschot Rinus G Verdonschot Rinus G Verdonschot Rinus G Verdonschot Henk evan Steenbergen Henk evan Steenbergen Serge A R Rombouts Serge A R Rombouts Serge A R Rombouts Sander eNieuwenhuis Sander eNieuwenhuis |
| author_facet | Marieke eJepma Marieke eJepma Rinus G Verdonschot Rinus G Verdonschot Rinus G Verdonschot Rinus G Verdonschot Henk evan Steenbergen Henk evan Steenbergen Serge A R Rombouts Serge A R Rombouts Serge A R Rombouts Sander eNieuwenhuis Sander eNieuwenhuis |
| author_sort | Marieke eJepma |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Curiosity is one of the most basic biological drives in both animals and humans, and has been identified as a key motive for learning and discovery. Despite the importance of curiosity and related behaviors, the topic has been largely neglected in human neuroscience; hence little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying curiosity. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate what happens in our brain during the induction and subsequent relief of perceptual curiosity. Our core findings were that (i) the induction of perceptual curiosity, through the presentation of ambiguous visual input, activated the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex, brain regions sensitive to conflict and arousal; (ii) the relief of perceptual curiosity, through visual disambiguation, activated regions of the striatum that have been related to reward processing; and (iii) the relief of perceptual curiosity was associated with hippocampal activation and enhanced incidental memory. These findings provide the first demonstration of the neural basis of human perceptual curiosity. Our results provide neurobiological support for a classic psychological theory of curiosity, which holds that curiosity is an aversive condition of increased arousal whose termination is rewarding and facilitates memory. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:21:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-23c29d390a4742b1bc9e3ef48d7485cd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5153 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:21:33Z |
| publishDate | 2012-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-23c29d390a4742b1bc9e3ef48d7485cd2022-12-22T02:58:37ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience1662-51532012-02-01610.3389/fnbeh.2012.0000512616Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosityMarieke eJepma0Marieke eJepma1Rinus G Verdonschot2Rinus G Verdonschot3Rinus G Verdonschot4Rinus G Verdonschot5Henk evan Steenbergen6Henk evan Steenbergen7Serge A R Rombouts8Serge A R Rombouts9Serge A R Rombouts10Sander eNieuwenhuis11Sander eNieuwenhuis12Leiden University, Institute of PsychologyLeiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC)Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC)Leiden University, Institute of PsychologyLeiden University Centre for LinguisticsNagoya UniversityLeiden University, Institute of PsychologyLeiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC)Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC)Leiden University, Institute of PsychologyLeiden University Medical CenterLeiden University, Institute of PsychologyLeiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC)Curiosity is one of the most basic biological drives in both animals and humans, and has been identified as a key motive for learning and discovery. Despite the importance of curiosity and related behaviors, the topic has been largely neglected in human neuroscience; hence little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying curiosity. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate what happens in our brain during the induction and subsequent relief of perceptual curiosity. Our core findings were that (i) the induction of perceptual curiosity, through the presentation of ambiguous visual input, activated the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex, brain regions sensitive to conflict and arousal; (ii) the relief of perceptual curiosity, through visual disambiguation, activated regions of the striatum that have been related to reward processing; and (iii) the relief of perceptual curiosity was associated with hippocampal activation and enhanced incidental memory. These findings provide the first demonstration of the neural basis of human perceptual curiosity. Our results provide neurobiological support for a classic psychological theory of curiosity, which holds that curiosity is an aversive condition of increased arousal whose termination is rewarding and facilitates memory.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00005/fullArousalMemoryfMRIreward processingcuriosity |
| spellingShingle | Marieke eJepma Marieke eJepma Rinus G Verdonschot Rinus G Verdonschot Rinus G Verdonschot Rinus G Verdonschot Henk evan Steenbergen Henk evan Steenbergen Serge A R Rombouts Serge A R Rombouts Serge A R Rombouts Sander eNieuwenhuis Sander eNieuwenhuis Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience Arousal Memory fMRI reward processing curiosity |
| title | Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity |
| title_full | Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity |
| title_fullStr | Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity |
| title_short | Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity |
| title_sort | neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity |
| topic | Arousal Memory fMRI reward processing curiosity |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00005/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mariekeejepma neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT mariekeejepma neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT rinusgverdonschot neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT rinusgverdonschot neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT rinusgverdonschot neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT rinusgverdonschot neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT henkevansteenbergen neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT henkevansteenbergen neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT sergearrombouts neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT sergearrombouts neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT sergearrombouts neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT sanderenieuwenhuis neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity AT sanderenieuwenhuis neuralmechanismsunderlyingtheinductionandreliefofperceptualcuriosity |