School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 3010, Australia.
Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, 3800, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 22;11(1):8780. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-88031-y.
Curiosity pervades all aspects of human behaviour and decision-making. Recent research indicates that the value of information is determined by its propensity to reduce uncertainty, and the hedonic value of the outcomes it predicts. Previous findings also indicate a preference for options that are freely chosen, compared to equivalently valued alternatives that are externally assigned. Here, we asked whether the value of information also varies as a function of self- or externally-imposed choices. Participants rated their preference for information that followed either a self-chosen decision, or an externally imposed condition. Our results showed that choosing a lottery significantly increased the subjective value of information about the outcome. Computational modelling indicated that this change in information-seeking behaviour was not due to changes in the subjective probability of winning, but instead reflected an independent effect of choosing on the value of resolving uncertainty. These results demonstrate that agency over a prospect is an important source of information value.
好奇心渗透在人类行为和决策的各个方面。最近的研究表明，信息的价值取决于其降低不确定性的倾向，以及它预测的结果的享乐价值。之前的研究结果还表明，人们更喜欢自由选择的选项，而不是具有同等价值但由外部分配的选项。在这里，我们想知道信息的价值是否也会随自定或外部选择而变化。参与者对以下两种信息的偏好进行了评价：一种是根据自己的决定，另一种是根据外部强加的条件。我们的结果表明，选择彩票显著增加了对结果的信息的主观价值。计算模型表明，这种信息寻求行为的变化不是由于获胜的主观概率的变化，而是反映了选择对解决不确定性的价值的独立影响。这些结果表明，对前景的控制是信息价值的一个重要来源。
