Information-seeking regulation in the human brain

Humans spend a substantial amount of time searching for information. The human drive for knowledge is often referred to as information-seeking and it is a fundamental aspect of intelligent behavior. The search for and use of information is essential to solve a wide range of problems related to survival, social interactions, the regulation of affective states, learning and decision-making. Different motives seem to influence how people decide to seek or avoid information, including whether the information is useful, positive or it increases our knowledge of the world. An important research challenge is to understand how the human brain regulates information-seeking and its motives in order to implement adaptive information-seeing behaviors. Are there specific algorithms the brain uses to regulate information-seeking? Are there specific neural modulators which allow this regulation? Is this regulation similar to other homeostatic regulations? This proposal will try to answer these questions by adopting a multidisciplinary approach. Sophisticated methods from diverse disciplines including psychology, neuroscience and computer science will be combined to achieve the research objectives. The results of the proposed research will improve the scientific understanding of human information-seeking with important implications for the fields of clinical psychology and psychiatry, education, public policy and law.