Month: February 2021

Curiosity Is Contagious: A Social Influence Intervention to Induce Curiosity

Abstract Our actions and decisions are regularly influenced by the social environment around us. Can social cues be leveraged to induce curiosity and affect subsequent behavior? Across two experiments, we show that curiosity is contagious: The social environment can influence people’s curiosity about the answers to scientific questions. Participants were presented with everyday questions about […]

Published on February 14, 2021

The Best Laid Plans: Computational Principles of Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Despite continual debate for the past 30 years about the function of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), its key contribution to neurocognition remains unknown. However, recent computational modeling work has provided insight into this question. Here we review computational models that illustrate three core principles of ACC function, related to hierarchy, world models, and cost. We […]

Published on February 14, 2021

Diving into the mysteries of mate selection

In your quest for true love and that elusive happily ever after, are you waiting for the ‘right’ person to come along, or do you find yourself going for the cutest guy or girl in the room, hoping things will work out? Do you leave your options open, hoping to ‘trade-up’ at the next opportunity, […]

Published on February 14, 2021