Thesis Format
Integrated Article
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Program
Neuroscience
Supervisor
Kohler, Stefan
Abstract
Trying to recall a piece of knowledge from memory but, despite best efforts, being unable to do so is a common occurrence in everyday life. Frequently, this involves the impression that the knowledge is still present but that one simply cannot access it. This may be expressed through metacognitive retrieval experiences that reflect how one felt about the retrieval attempt. Anecdotally, these experiences may result in one searching externally for the missing piece of knowledge. This information-seeking behaviour is characteristic of state curiosity. Past research on curiosity has focused on either its neural correlates, or its impacts for learning, while remaining agnostic as to the factors that initially contributed to its formation. The general goal that guided the cognitive and fMRI experiments in this thesis was to examine whether and how retrieval experiences shape curiosity and information-seeking behaviour. Throughout, we employed variants of a behavioural paradigm that involved the learning and recall of arbitrary face-name associations, various metacognitive retrieval judgements, and multiple ways of probing curiosity. In Chapter 2, we aimed to uncover the specific task demands and retrieval factors that may act as important determinants for familiarity preferences in information-seeking behaviour. Our results suggested that prior recall attempts, as well as metacognitive retrieval experiences, are important determinants of such familiarity preferences. Chapter 3 examined links between metacognitive retrieval experiences, curiosity, and reward. Results showed that feeling-of-knowing (FOK) experiences during unsuccessful recall had parallel relationships with subjectively reported curiosity, information-seeking behaviour, and satisfaction experienced upon obtaining the initially unrecalled information. Finally, in Chapter 4, we examined the underlying neural correlates of the reported behavioural relationships, specifically assessing the roles of the cortical areas which support FOK experiences and the dopaminergic reward circuitry. Most notably, the superior frontal gyrus was a shared cortical neural correlate of FOK experiences and subsequent information-seeking behaviour in the participants in whom these behaviours were closely tied. Across this thesis, we provide insight into the ties between metacognitive retrieval experiences and states of curiosity. The significance of this work will be highlighted in the context of education, and in diseases characterized by memory impairments.
Summary for Lay Audience
Imagine watching a popular new movie and trying to recall the name of the celebrity who plays one of the characters. If you recognize this celebrity from other movies, you may feel close to remembering it, but ultimately have no success in producing the name. Consequently, you may end up searching the internet for the movie’s cast, seeking out the name of the celebrity from the list of actors, and feeling relief when you find it out. The information-seeking behaviour described in this anecdote captures a scenario that often follows unsuccessful memory recall and illustrates the key phenomenon under study in this thesis. Through a series of cognitive experiments, we sought to comprehensively examine the impact that unsuccessful recall and its accompanying experiences have on curiosity and its characteristic information-seeking behavior. The results of this thesis showed the importance of engaging in a memory recall attempt for inducing curiosity and highlighted the relevance of a number of different experiences for guiding information-seeking choices. We showed that one of these such experiences, the feeling that information could be correctly recognized despite being unable to currently recall it (a feeling-of-knowing or FOK), relates to curiosity, information seeking, and subjective satisfaction upon relief. In sum, this behavioural work examined the links between memory and curiosity through various memory retrieval experiences and multiple ways of probing curiosity. Finally, we conducted a study that used brain imaging methods to link the behavioural phenomenon under investigation to a brain-based mechanism. These results showed that for individuals who became curious when they experienced a FOK during unsuccessful recall, the FOK experience and subsequent information-seeking choice were related to shared brain activity in one critical region within the prefrontal cortex. Altogether, the results presented in this thesis provide a thorough examination of the relatable phenomenon of becoming curious and seeking knowledge after initially failing to recall a piece of information. The importance of this work will be underscored by highlighting how the present results may provide the first step to advance research related to education, and diseases characterized by memory impairments.
Recommended Citation
Brooks, Gregory, "Motivational Consequences of Unsuccessful Memory Retrieval" (2024). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 10322.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/10322
Creative Commons License
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