School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
Brain Res. 2013 Mar 15;1500:45-54. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2012.12.046. Epub 2013 Jan 16.
Interpersonal curiosity (IPC) is an important intrinsic motivation in social interaction, yet studies focused on its neural mechanism are rare. In a three-agent (self, other, or computer) interactive gambling task, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) to a cue stimuli indicating whether participants will be informed of their own, of another participant's or the computer's outcomes such that curiosity will be satisfied (CWS) or curiosity will not be satisfied (CWN). The results showed that relative to the CWS cue stimuli the CWN cue evoked a larger late positive component (LPC) between approximately 400 ms and 700 ms after cue onset in both the Self and Other conditions, but not in the Computer condition. Additionally, participants reported stronger curiosity in the Other's outcomes than in the Computer's outcomes. Most importantly, participants' subjective rating of curiosity was significantly correlated with the amplitude of the LPC elicited by the CWN cue. Furthermore, scores in the "curiosity about emotion" subscale of the IPC Scale was significantly correlated with the LPC amplitude when the participants learn they will not be informed of the Other's outcomes. We suggest that (1) interpersonal information is of great significance to individuals and IPC is an important social motivator, and (2) LPC amplitude is sensitive toIPC.
人际好奇心（IPC）是社交互动中的一种重要内在动机，但专注于其神经机制的研究却很少。在一个三主体（自我、他人或计算机）互动赌博任务中，我们记录了事件相关电位（ERP）对提示刺激的反应，提示刺激表明参与者将被告知自己、另一个参与者或计算机的结果，从而满足好奇心（CWS）或不能满足好奇心（CWN）。结果表明，与 CWS 提示相比，CWN 提示在自我和他人条件下，大约在提示出现后 400 毫秒到 700 毫秒之间，会引起更大的晚期正成分（LPC），但在计算机条件下则不会。此外，参与者报告说，他人的结果比计算机的结果更能引起他们的好奇心。最重要的是，参与者对好奇心的主观评价与 CWN 提示引起的 LPC 幅度显著相关。此外，当参与者得知他们不会被告知他人的结果时，IPC 量表中“对情绪的好奇心”子量表的得分与 LPC 幅度显著相关。我们认为：（1）人际信息对个人具有重要意义，IPC 是一种重要的社会动机；（2）LPC 幅度对 IPC 敏感。
