Valuation of knowledge and ignorance in mesolimbic reward circuitry.

ABSTRACT: The pursuit of knowledge is a basic feature of human nature. However, in domains ranging from health to finance people sometimes choose to remain ignorant. Here, we show that valence is central to the process by which the human brain evaluates the opportunity to gain information, explaining why knowledge may not always be preferred. We reveal that the mesolimbic reward circuitry selectively treats the opportunity to gain knowledge about future favorable outcomes, but not unfavorable outcomes, as if it has positive utility. This neural coding predicts participants' tendency to choose knowledge about future desirable outcomes more often than undesirable ones, and to choose ignorance about future undesirable outcomes more often than desirable ones. Strikingly, participants are willing to pay

SUBMITTER: Charpentier CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6077743 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature