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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 6, 2025

Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans

Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans

Published on: March 19, 2014

Outcome unpredictability affects outcome-specific motivation to learn.

Genisius Hartanto¹, Evan Livesey², Oren Griffiths³

¹Department of Psychology, Philipps-University Marburg, Gutenbergstrasse 18, 35052, Marburg, Germany. hartanto@staff.uni-marburg.de.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|May 5, 2021

Summary

Learning about unpredictable outcomes decreases motivation to learn about them later. This study shows unpredictability impacts future learning choices, even in new situations.

Keywords:

Active learning Learned helplessness Outcome predictability Outcome-specific motivation Predictive learning

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Behavioral Neuroscience
Learning and Memory

Background:

Outcome predictability effects demonstrate enhanced learning for predictable outcomes.
Learned helplessness paradigms show how uncontrollability impacts motivation.
This study explores if learning about unpredictability reduces motivation to learn.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if learning about unpredictability decreases outcome-specific motivation to learn.
To examine how prior exposure to unpredictability influences subsequent learning choices.
To understand the relationship between predictability, motivation, and active learning.

Main Methods:

A modified allergy task was used, presenting predictable and unpredictable outcomes.
An active learning phase allowed participants to choose which outcome category to learn about.
Participants' choices in learning about predictable versus unpredictable outcomes were recorded.

Main Results:

Participants initially prioritized learning about predictable outcomes over unpredictable ones.
This preference indicated that unpredictability negatively impacted their motivation to learn.
No outcome predictability effect was observed in the later stages of the second phase.

Conclusions:

Prior experience with unpredictability can decrease motivation to learn about those outcomes.
Participants' active choices may lead to compensation for biased sampling of information.
The findings highlight the complex interplay between predictability, motivation, and learning strategies.