Research Design Connections: More Implications of Making Choices

by Sally Augustin, Ph.D. | January 23rd, 2023

Verdugo and teammates’ work highlights previously unreported ramifications of having selected something over something else.  They share that they “designed a task in which healthy participants saw two lotteries on each trial. On some trials, participants chose which lottery to play. On other trials, the lottery was selected for them. Participants then indicated their curiosity about the outcome of the to-be-played lottery via self-report ratings . . . or willingness-to-wait decisions. . . . We found that participants exhibited higher curiosity ratings and greater willingness to wait for the outcome of lotteries they had chosen than for lotteries that had been selected for them (controlling for initial preference). This demonstrates that choice boosts curiosity, which may have implications for boosting learning, memory, and motivation.” Patricia Verdugo, Lieke van Lieshout, Floris De Lange, and Roshan Cools.  “Choice Boosts Curiosity.”  Psychological Science, in press, https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976221082637 Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is …