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Novel Object Recognition and Object Location Behavioral Testing in Mice on a Budget
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Novelty preferences depend on goals.

Claudia G Sehl1, Emma Tran2, Stephanie Denison2

  • 1University of Waterloo, Psychology, Waterloo, Canada. claudia.sehl@uwaterloo.ca.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|May 26, 2022
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Novelty preferences in children and adults depend on goals. People prefer familiar items for possession but novel items for learning, influenced by risk and information-seeking motivations.

Keywords:
Cognitive developmentInformation gainNovelty seekingResource seeking

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Development
  • Decision-Making Psychology
  • Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

  • Human preferences often oscillate between novelty and familiarity.
  • Understanding the factors influencing these preferences is crucial for various fields, including product design and education.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how goals influence preferences for novel versus familiar items in children and adults.
  • To explore the underlying motivations driving these goal-dependent preferences.

Main Methods:

  • Four experiments were conducted with 4- to 7-year-old children (N = 498) and adults (N = 659).
  • Participants were presented with pairs of familiar and novel artifacts and asked about their preferences for having or using them.
  • Preference choices were analyzed across different experimental conditions and item types.

Main Results:

  • Children preferred to possess familiar artifacts but learn about novel ones.
  • This goal-dependent preference pattern was replicated in adults.
  • Familiar items were more strongly preferred for possession than for use, especially in high-commitment, risk-entailing decisions.

Conclusions:

  • Preferences for novelty are not absolute but are contingent upon individual goals and decision contexts.
  • Motivations for seeking information (novelty) and ensuring safety (familiarity) interact in shaping preferences.
  • These findings have implications for understanding developmental changes in decision-making and the psychology of choice.