Motivational Consequences of Unsuccessful Memory Retrieval

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.