Cited by 277Decision-Making and Behavioral EconomicsNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Striatal activity underlies novelty-based choice in humans

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Wittmann, Bianca C., Daw, Nathaniel D., Seymour, Ben, Dolan, Raymond J.·2008·Neuron

Abstract

The desire to seek new and unfamiliar experiences is a fundamental behavioral tendency in humans and other species. In economic decision making, novelty seeking is often rational, insofar as uncertain options may prove valuable and advantageous in the long run. Here, we show that, even when the degree of perceptual familiarity of an option is unrelated to choice outcome, novelty nevertheless drives choice behavior. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we show that this behavior is specifically associated with striatal activity, in a manner consistent with computational accounts of decision making under uncertainty. Furthermore, this activity predicts interindividual differences in susceptibility to novelty. These data indicate that the brain uses perceptual novelty to approximate choice uncertainty in decision making, which in certain contexts gives rise to a newly identified and quantifiable source of human irrationality.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.04.027

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  • In the ventral striatum specifically, responses to novel stimuli have been shown with fast-scan voltammetry and other techniques measuring extracellular DA concentrations, as well as with single unit recordings and fMRI.

    “In the VS specifically, responses to novel stimuli have been shown with fast-scan voltammetry and other techniques measuring extra-cellular DA concentrations, as well as with single unit recordings and fMRI [71–73].”
  • Other forms of automatic attention produced by salience or surprise are vital heuristics for allocating resources in very uncertain conditions, when the brain has not yet learnt how to learn.

    “This raises the possibility that other forms of automatic attention that are produced by salience or surprise (Boehnke et al., 2011; Karacan and Hayhoe, 2008; Wittmann et al., 2008), rather than being mere weaknesses of a control mechanism, are vital heuristics for allocating resources in very uncertain conditions, when the brain has not yet learnt how to learn.”

    From Attention, learning, and the value of information (2012) · cites this paper as Wittmann et al., 2008

  • Novelty acts as an exploration bonus in reward seeking tasks and is encoded in dopamine cells as an intrinsic bonus for exploration.

    “Novelty has been proposed to act as an exploration bonus in reward seeking tasks (Wittmann et al., 2008), and to be encoded in dopamine cells as an intrinsic bonus for exploration (Redgrave and Gurney, 2006).”

    From Attention, learning, and the value of information (2012) · cites this paper as Wittmann et al., 2008

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Hutton, C., Deichmann, R., Turner, R., and Andersson, J.L.R. (2004). Combined correction for geometric distortion and its interaction with head motion in fMRI. Proceedings of ISMRM 12 (Kyoto, Japan).

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Authors
Wittmann, B. C., Daw, N. D., Seymour, B., & Dolan, R. J.
Affiliations
  • Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
  • Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit (GB)
Corresponding author
Wittmann, Bianca C.
Venue
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-06
Volume
58
Issue
6
Pages
967-973
ISSN
0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2142699776
Cited by
277
References
50
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 12
FWCI
10.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuron (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Cambridge University Engineering Department Publications Database (submittedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Wellcome Trust
  • Economic and Social Research Council (RES-538-28-1001)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords
novelty seeking, decision making under uncertainty, striatum, economic decision-making, individual differences, irrationality
MeSH terms
Adult, Brain Mapping, Choice Behavior, Corpus Striatum, Exploratory Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Photic Stimulation, Psychomotor Performance

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