Dopamine Increases Curiosity

What is it about?

What are the neural mechanisms that drive us to try new foods or visit destinations we've never experienced. In other words how does the brain promote novelty seeking behavior over simple exploitation of existing knowledge. This study explicitly links increases in the neurotransmitter dopamine to increases in how often subjects decide to explore novel choice options.

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Why is it important?

Identifying the neural bases of novelty seeking is important, as excessive novelty seeking characterizes various psychiatric and neurological disorders. While past studies linked dopamine to novelty detection, this is the first study to show that dopamine underlies the positive valuation of novel stimuli in order to promote exploratory decision making. A clinical implication of these findings is that alterations in DA reuptake may contribute to excessive novelty seeking and impulsivity.