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To understand human learning and progress, it is crucial to understand curiosity. But how consistent is curiosity's conception and assessment across scientific research disciplines? We present the results of a large collaborative project assessing the correspondence between curiosity measures in personality psychology and cognitive science. A total of 820 participants completed 15 personality trait measures and 9 cognitive tasks that tested multiple aspects of information demand. We show that shared variance across the cognitive tasks was captured by a dimension reflecting directed (uncertainty-driven) versus random (stochasticity-driven) exploration and individual differences along this axis were significantly and consistently predicted by personality traits. However, the personality metrics that best predicted information demand were not the central curiosity traits of openness to experience, deprivation sensitivity, and joyous exploration, but instead included more peripheral curiosity traits (need for cognition, thrill seeking, and stress tolerance) and measures not traditionally associated with curiosity (extraversion and behavioral inhibition). The results suggest that the umbrella term "curiosity" reflects a constellation of cognitive and emotional processes, only some of which are shared between personality measures and cognitive tasks. The results reflect the distinct methods that are used in these fields, indicating a need for caution in comparing results across fields and for future interdisciplinary collaborations to strengthen our emerging understanding of curiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perception of health risks can influence people's health behaviors. However, in the context of modern consumer society, few people delve into in-depth discussions on health consumption as a form of health protection behavior. Inspired by the Health Belief Model and Protection Motivation Theory, this study interprets health consumption behavior as a new form of health protection behavior. A survey was conducted on a sample of Chinese youth (N = 885) to explore the mechanisms of action between health risk perception and health consumption behavior using structural equation modeling. The study found that: (1) health risk perception has a significant positive impact on the health consumption behavior of young people; (2) negative emotions and information seeking play mediating roles respectively in the mechanism of the impact of health risk perception on health consumption behavior; and (3) in addition to their individual mediating roles, negative emotions and information seeking behavior collectively play a chained mediation role in this process. Implications of these results, both theoretical and practical, are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior studies have examined correlates of health information seeking and scanning separately, focusing on distinct theoretical frameworks, antecedents, and outcomes. In this meta-analysis we synthesize this research (k  = 21; N  = 39,510) by examining the relationship between health information seeking and scanning, and their key antecedents and outcomes. Results show that seeking and scanning are moderately and positively correlated, supporting the claim that these are distinct, albeit related, and behaviors. Level of education and income are positive correlates of scanning (but not seeking) behaviors. Conversely, issue-relevance is positively associated with seeking (but not scanning). Results show substantial parity in associations between seeking and scanning with topic-relevant attitudes and behavioral intention. Information seeking (but not scanning), however, is a significant correlate of risk perceptions and perceived social norms. Thus, scanning and seeking are associated with distinct antecedents, but have similar effects. We offer theoretical implications and directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When presented with surprising claims, older children investigate such claims more often than younger children. The present study tests whether older children (6–7-year-olds) are more skeptical than younger children (4–5-year-olds) about surprising claims that lack supporting evidence because they expect informants to provide evidence for them. To test this hypothesis, we presented 140 4–7-year-old children (47–96 months, 46.4% girls, 53.6% boys, 86.4% with at least one parent who completed a BA degree, 50% parents with income above median) with a series of vignettes. In each vignette, the protagonist wanted to accomplish a task and needed to select the most appropriate object for that task. Before deciding which object to use, the protagonist heard a surprising claim about one of the object's properties, presented with or without supporting evidence. For example, in the supporting explanation condition, the informant stated that the smallest object was the heaviest and that they knew because they had lifted the objects. Children were then asked whether the protagonist knew which object to use and why. Contrary to expectation, children across all ages typically indicated that the protagonist had sufficient knowledge, regardless of whether an informant provided supporting evidence or not. However, with increasing age, children became more skeptical of both supported and unsupported surprising claims and increasingly stated that the protagonist should not select the object suggested by the informant. Finally, when asked to justify this judgment, older children were more likely than younger to express skepticism toward the claims, especially when presented without supporting evidence. Public Significance Statement: The results of this study show that with age, children become increasingly skeptical of surprising claims, whether unsupported or not, as well as increasingly likely to express this skepticism. By generating new knowledge on children's capacity to reason about uncertainty and their emerging critical stance toward surprising claims, later research may build on this work to develop educational tools for practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic has created uncertainty and controversy around risk‐related issues such as vaccine mandates. People expressing their opinions on these issues to important others, such as employers, may face significant consequences, such as rewards or rejection. Therefore, people may try to find, avoid, or use information in a way that helps them express risk judgments that are socially acceptable in different social situations. This study investigated how people seek, avoid, and process risk information when they are concerned about their impression management. It also introduced the concept of impression information insufficiency (the perceived gap between the information one has and the information one needs to convey socially acceptable judgments and meet interpersonal needs in social situations) and examined its antecedents and outcomes within the risk information seeking and processing model. We conducted an online survey with 1673 Hong Kong adults during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The results showed that fear and social norms related to greater impression information insufficiency, which thereby was associated with biased risk information seeking, avoidance, and processing. Key points: Policy mandates, such as requiring vaccination, wearing masks, or showing proof of immunization to access public spaces, may increase the pressure that people feel to conform to the prevailing social norms when they express their opinions about the risks involved. People who have to report their views on these mandates to authorities (such as employers, managers, or school officials) or to close contacts (such as relatives, parents, or friends) may face significant social rewards or sanctions depending on how they communicate their risk assessments. Therefore, stating one's risk judgment about policy mandates and related issues can have important implications for one's career, material benefits, or personal relationships in different social contexts.We investigated how people adjust their expressions of risk judgments to match the perceived expectations of their important others by seeking and processing risk information in a socially desirable way. We found that people who were afraid of COVID‐19 and felt normative pressure to be informed about it were more likely to look for and process risk information in a way that aligned with their important others' views on COVID‐19 policies and issues. The need for risk information and normative pressure influenced people's selective and biased use of risk information to align with their social circles.To persuade people to follow policy mandates during public health crises, policymakers and health officials should enlist the help of social role evaluators (e.g., employers, school principals, managers) who can influence the attitudes of their subordinates or students. This is because people may want to impress their evaluators by agreeing with their views on the risky issues. Therefore, risk message designers should highlight, in their messages, how following the policy mandates can create a positive impression (e.g., being responsible and considerate) on their important others (e.g., colleagues, teachers, school principals). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the information-seeking behavior of the clergy using parish pastors in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Agbarho community in Delta State as a case study. The study seeks to identify the information needs, the sources of information, the purpose of the use of information, and the challenges to information seeking among RCCG parish pastors in Agbarho. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The total population for the study comprises 44 parish pastors of the RCCG in two Zones of RCCG Delta Province 4 in Agbarho Community. The entire population was used as a sample using the total enumeration sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The data collected for this study were analyzed using simple percentage/frequency counts. The study found that RCCG pastors in Agbarho need and use the information for several issues such as sermon preparation, personal and church growth, church administration, evangelism, conflict resolution, meetings/programs, and personal/members' welfare among others. They get the information they need from formal sources such as the Bible, books including all RCCG publications such as Open Heavens and Sunday school manuals, magazines (RCCG Bulletins), etc. Also, RCCG pastors in Agbarho community, Delta State, Nigeria also gets information from informal sources such as senior pastors, colleagues, friends in the ministry, church members, and family among others. In their effort to seek information, RCCG pastors in Agbarho community, Delta State, Nigeria faces some challenges such as limited financial resources, lack of access to ICT facilities, language barriers, information overload, time factor, and poor awareness of information sources. The study recommends that the RCCG authorities in conjunction with other churches and community leaders should establish and equip a library in every community where they are present as a way of advancing their Christian Social Responsibilities (CSR) as this will allow their pastors to have access to free and timely information among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internet has become a common means by which many older adults seek out health information. The prevalence of misinformation on the internet makes the search for accurate online health information a more complex and evaluative process. This study examined the role of age and neurocognition in credibility evaluations of credible and non-credible health websites. Forty-one older adults and fifty younger adults completed a structured credibility rating task in which they evaluated a series of webpages displaying health information about migraine treatments. Participants also completed measures of neurocognition, internet use, and health literacy. Results suggested that older adults rated non-credible health websites as more credible than younger adults, but the age groups did not differ in their ratings of credible sites. Within the full sample, neurocognition was associated with credibility ratings for non-credible health websites, whereas health literacy was related to the ratings of credible sites. Findings indicate that older adults may be more likely to trust non-credible health websites than younger adults, which may be related to differences in higher-order neurocognitive functions. Future work might examine whether cognitive-based supports for credibility training in older adults can be used to improve the accuracy with which they evaluate online health information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Türkiye is a region prone to earthquakes, and its fault structures generate destructive earthquakes on a regular basis. In this sense, a second devastating earthquake occurred in February 2023, and a great deal of information and news about it was distributed, particularly on social media. In cases of natural disasters such as earthquakes, this study examines the effect of intense and negative news flow on news avoidance as a consequence of people's search for information about the event on social media. In this regard, a survey was conducted with the participation of 398 social media users in Istanbul, the most populous and earthquake-prone city in Türkiye, during the months of March and April. As a result of the study, it has been determined that there is a direct effect between information seeking on social media and news avoidance, whereas there is an indirect mediation effect between doomscrolling, news overload, and news fatigue. In addition, as the age and educational level of the participants increase, while being affected by doomscrolling, news overload, news fatigue, and news avoidance variables decrease, there is no significant difference in the category of information seeking on social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children frequently use Google to answer their questions, yet what they think about Google's capacity and limitations is unclear. This study explores children's beliefs about Google's capacity to answer questions. American children ages 9 and 10 (n = 44; 18 boys and 26 girls) viewed factual questions directed towards Google or a person. After viewing each question, they reported their confidence in the informant's accuracy, the time it would take the informant to obtain the answer and how the informant would obtain the answer. Finally, they generated questions that the internet would be capable or incapable of answering. Children believed Google would be more accurate and faster than a person at answering questions. Children consistently generated appropriate questions that the internet would be good at answering, but they sometimes struggled to generate questions that the internet would not be good at answering. Implications for children's learning are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce uncertainty, the public needs accurate and timely information. Inspired by the risk information seeking and processing (RISP) model, this article discovers the significant predictors of individuals' COVID-19 information-seeking intention and behaviour. Overall, 394 adult participants from 47 states completed this study's online survey. The hierarchical regression analysis reveals that risk experience and informational subjective norms are the most substantial predictors of individuals' online information-seeking behaviour about COVID-19. Information insufficiency did not predict information seeking, and participants tend to overestimate their knowledge about COVID-19. RISP variables tend to share power in explaining the variances of information-seeking behaviour. Moreover, both channel beliefs and perceived information gathering capacity moderate information insufficiency's prediction of information-seeking intention. These findings will assist researchers in discovering the fundamental motivation of information seeking. This article can guide pragmatic interventions to reduce the public's uncertainty and mitigate the risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation research fighting for public attention and counteracting science-skeptical views raise the need for insights into why individuals are motivated to engage with scientific knowledge. Guided by the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM), additionally considering mistrust in science and innovativeness, the study aimed to explain individuals' intention to seek information about medical innovations. Findings of an online survey among German residents (N = 5,322) supported the utility of the extended PRISM to predict seeking intent. Most of the postulates of the PRISM were supported; mistrust served as a barrier to engagement with scientific knowledge, whereas innovativeness was of minor relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractObjectiveMethods and measuresResultsConclusionThis study aimed to unravel micro-processes that link information seeking to subsequent affective well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect) at the within-person level, as well as the role of worry as a mediator in this relationship.Within the initial weeks following the Chinese government’s relaxation of its epidemic control measures, 184 participants completed experience sampling methods on information seeking, COVID-related worry, and affective well-being three times a day for 14 days.According to dynamic structural equation models, information seeking was associated with high negative affect but not with low positive affect. COVID-related worry acted as a full mediator between information seeking at the previous time point (approximately 5 h ago) and the current negative affect, but not in positive affect.These findings suggested that the impact of information seeking on affective well-being was different for the two dimensions of affect. Furthermore, the persistent impact of information seeking on negative affect was attributed to the indirect effect of worry, suggesting that worry should be a point of focus for intervention to mitigate the potentially negative effects of information seeking within the context of the public health crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans are immensely curious and motivated to reduce uncertainty, but little is known about the neural mechanisms that generate curiosity. Curiosity is inversely associated with confidence, suggesting that it is triggered by states of low confidence (subjective uncertainty), but the neural mechanisms of this link, have been little investigated. Inspired by studies of sensory uncertainty, we hypothesized that visual areas provide multivariate representations of uncertainty, which are read out by higher-order structures to generate signals of confidence and, ultimately, curiosity. We scanned participants (17 female, 15 male) using fMRI while they performed a new task in which they rated their confidence in identifying distorted images of animals and objects and their curiosity to see the clear image. We measured the activity evoked by each image in the occipitotemporal cortex (OTC) and devised a new metric of “OTC Certainty” indicating the strength of evidence this activity conveys about the animal versus object categories. We show that, perceptual curiosity peaked at low confidence and OTC Certainty negatively correlated with curiosity, establishing a link between curiosity and a multivariate representation of sensory uncertainty. Moreover, univariate (average) activity in two frontal areas-vmPFC and ACC-correlated positively with confidence and negatively with curiosity, and the vmPFC mediated the relationship between OTC Certainty and curiosity. The results reveal novel mechanisms through which uncertainty about an event generates curiosity about that event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated how apparent threat of an ambiguous stimuli modulates infants' looking to interaction partners of varying familiarity (mother, familiar experimenter, unfamiliar experimenter). We hypothesized a preference for familiar informants under higher apparent threat, but a preference for unfamiliar informants under lower apparent threat. The informant encouraged infants (N = 104, 8–13 months) to cross a visual cliff in one of two apparent threat conditions (lower vs. higher drop‐off). Under lower threat, infants looked equally long to all informants, but switched gazes more often between their mother and the cliff. Infants explored the cliff more and crossed more often in the mother condition compared to the other two conditions. They also expressed less negative affect in the presence of the mother compared to the unfamiliar experimenter, but not compared to the familiar experimenter. Under high threat, a similar pattern emerged, except that looking duration to the unfamiliar informant was shorter compared to the low threat condition. Heart rate acceleration appeared when infants were placed on the cliff compared to a baseline phase. Higher levels of negative affectivity (but not higher arousal) were observed under higher compared to lower threat. Overall, we found little evidence of the influence of threat within the visual cliff task. We argue that infants may have perceived the cliff as quite challenging even in the lower threat condition and call for more research on the situational embeddedness of early social learning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigations of information-seeking often highlight people's tendency to forgo financial reward in return for advance information about future outcomes. Most of these experiments use tasks in which reward contingencies are described to participants. The use of such descriptions leaves open the question of whether the opportunity to obtain such noninstrumental information influences people's ability to learn and represent the underlying reward structure of an experimental environment. In two experiments, participants completed a two-armed bandit task with monetary incentives where reward contingencies were learned via trial-by-trial experience. We find, akin to description-based tasks, that participants are willing to forgo financial reward to receive information about a delayed, unchangeable outcome. Crucially, however, there is little evidence this willingness to pay for information is driven by an inaccurate representation of the reward structure: participants' representations approximated the underlying reward structure regardless of the presence of advance noninstrumental information. The results extend previous conclusions regarding the intrinsic value of information to an experience-based domain and highlight challenges of probing participants' memories for experienced rewards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines a comparative analysis of students' emotional correlations, academic information-seeking behavior, and library services in special schools in Karnataka, India. The research data was gathered using qualitative and quantitative methods, including in-depth interviews, survey methods, and focus groups conducted among 2054 specially-abled students in Karnataka. The study is confined to visual and hearing-impaired students. Students from both groups demonstrated high emotional similarity (strong positive correlation, r= .928). However, hearing-impaired students exhibited stronger information-seeking behavior (significant t-value, 3.145). While libraries offered similar service types to both groups (t-value, 1.145), visually impaired students had better access to assistive technology (significant t-value, 5.678), highlighting a resource disparity and suggesting libraries require strategies tailored to student needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents rational inattention as a new, transdiagnostic theory of information seeking in neurodevelopmental conditions that have uneven cognitive and socio‐emotional profiles, including developmental language disorder (DLD), dyslexia, dyscalculia and autism. Rational inattention holds that the optimal solution to minimizing epistemic uncertainty is to avoid imprecise information sources. The key theoretical contribution of this report is to endogenize imprecision, making it a function of the primary neurocognitive difficulties that have been invoked to explain neurodivergent phenotypes, including deficits in auditory perception, working memory, procedural learning and the social brain network. We argue that disengagement with information sources with low endogenous precision (e.g. speech in DLD, orthography‐phonology mappings in dyslexia, numeric stimuli in dyscalculia and social signals in autism) constitutes resource‐rational behaviour. We demonstrate the strength of this account in a series of computational simulations. In experiment 1, we simulate information seeking in artificial agents mimicking an array of neurodivergent phenotypes, which optimally explore a complex learning environment containing speech, text, numeric stimuli and social cues. In experiment 2, we simulate optimal information seeking in a cross‐modal dual‐task paradigm and qualitatively replicate empirical data from children with and without DLD. Across experiments, simulated agents' only aim was to maximally reduce epistemic uncertainty, with no difference in reward across information sources. We show that rational inattention emerges naturally in specific neurodivergent phenotypes as a function of low endogenous precision. For instance, an agent mimicking the DLD phenotype disengages with speech (and preferentially engages with alternative precise information sources) because endogenous imprecision renders speech not conducive to information gain. Because engagement is necessary for learning, simulation demonstrates how optimal information seeking may paradoxically contribute negatively to an already delayed learning trajectory in neurodivergent children. Research Highlights: We present the first comprehensive theory of information seeking in neurodivergent children to date, centred on the notion of rational inattention.We demonstrate the strength of this account in a series of computational simulations involving artificial agents mimicking specific neurodivergent phenotypes that optimally explore a complex learning environment containing speech, text, numeric stimuli, and social cues.We show how optimal information seeking may, paradoxically, contribute negatively to an already delayed learning trajectory in neurodivergent children.This report advances our understanding of the factors shaping short‐term decision making and long‐term learning in neurodivergent children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to explore associations of sociodemographic factors with difficulties in three health literacy (HL) skills and the severity of low HL skills. Design: Cross-sectional secondary data analysis. Subjects: Data came from 17,834 adults who responded to the HL module with a response rate of 47% in the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Measures: Independent variables included sex, age, race/ethnicity, education, employment and income. Dependent variables are three HL skills: obtaining, understanding oral, and understanding written health information. Analysis: We conducted weighted Chi-square tests and multinominal logistic regressions. Results: Cancer survivors younger than 65 (aged 18-39: AOR = 4.46, P <.001; aged 40-64: AOR = 2.29, P <.001), Hispanic (AOR = 2.17, CI = 1.61-2.50, P <.01) had higher odds of difficulty obtaining health information. Female cancer survivors had lower odds of difficulty comprehending oral (AOR =.69, CI =.55-.87, P <.01) and written (AOR =.58, CI =.46-.74, P <.001) information. The relative risk ratio of having difficulties in three HL tasks was higher for those who were younger than 65 (aged 18-39: RRR = 10.18, CI = 2.41-4.3, P <.01; aged 40-64: RRR = 4.01, CI = 2.09-7.69, P <.001), Hispanic (RRR = 3.24, CI = 1.66-11.34, P <.01), unemployed (RRR = 6.1, CI = 2.88-12.76, P <.001), education levels lower than some college (some high school: RRR = 4.34, P <.01; high school: RRR = 2.62, P <.05) and household income under $25,000 (RRR = 6.99, CI = 2.8-17.5, P <.001). Conclusion: Intervention and communication materials need to be tailored for patients with different HL skills considering age, gender, socioeconomic status and cultural backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines information-seeking behaviors of immigrants from Russia and Ukraine living in a medium-sized city in the Southeastern United States. Qualitative research methods included focus group meetings, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and a Photovoice project. Participants shared what information they needed to adapt to the American culture, where they looked for this information, and what barriers they experienced. The findings showed that immigrants sought everyday life information and information about the local culture, used interpersonal communication and online media as primary sources of information, and reported more co-ethnic interaction and communication with Americans than their compatriots in larger cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We ubiquitously seek information to make better decisions. Particularly in the modern age, when more information is available at our fingertips than ever, the information we choose to collect determines the quality of our decisions. Decision neuroscience has long adopted empirical approaches where the information available to decision-makers is fully controlled by the researchers, leaving neural mechanisms of information seeking less understood. Although information seeking has long been studied in the context of the exploration-exploitation trade-off, recent studies have widened the scope to investigate more overt information seeking in a way distinct from other decision processes. Insights gained from these studies, accumulated over the last few years, raise the possibility that information seeking is driven by the reward system signaling the subjective value of information. In this piece, we review findings from the recent studies, highlighting the conceptual and empirical relationships between distinct literatures, and discuss future research directions necessary to establish a more comprehensive understanding of how individuals seek information as a part of value-based decision-making. Information seeking is an integral, yet often overlooked aspect of value-based decision-making. Kobayashi and Kable review recent findings on the neural mechanisms of information seeking, highlighting an emerging hypothesis that the reward system represents the subjective value of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young informal carers (YICs) are non-professional young individuals providing care and support in various forms, usually to immediate family members, afflicted from a diverse range of both long- and short-term health conditions. Although there is significant knowledge about the information needs of adult carers in general, information needs and information seeking characteristics of the YICs' community are understudied and are different. This study aims to identify the information needs of YICs communicated over the Internet and understanding their information seeking characteristics through a three-stage qualitative content analysis of posts written by YICs on two notable Internet forums. The analysis of 323 posts dated between March 2010 and April 2019 finds YICs' needs are categorised by two types of online expression of needs, situational and information. Situational needs are illustrations of current difficult conditions and information needs are direct requests for information. Under situational and information needs, we identify four types of needs expressed: personal and professional growth, health (self and caree), finance and relationships. In addition, the findings indicate 94.36% posts in the sample as situational needs, which depict the uncertainty experienced by YICs under caring circumstances. The findings can assist government organisations and charities by improving the indexing of advice pages of their websites appropriate to the YICs' search words, better availability of information and advertising, in addition to building quality mobile applications or digital support tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our prior experiences shape the way that we prioritize information from the environment for further processing, analysis, and action. We show in three experiments that this process of attentional prioritization is critically modulated by the degree of uncertainty in these previous experiences. Participants completed a visual search task in which they made a saccade to a target to earn a monetary reward. The color of a color-singleton distractor in the search array signaled the reward outcome(s) that were available, with different degrees of variance (uncertainty). Participants were never required to look at the colored distractor, and doing so would slow their response to the target. Nevertheless, across all experiments, participants were more likely to look at distractors associated with high outcome variance versus low outcome variance. This pattern was observed when all distractors had equal expected value (Experiment 1), when the difference in variance was opposed by a difference in expected value (i.e., the high-variance distractor had a low expected value, and vice versa: Experiment 2), and when high- and low-variance distractors were paired with the maximum-value outcome on an equal proportion of trials (Experiment 3). Our findings demonstrate that experience of prediction error plays a fundamental role in guiding "attentional exploration," wherein priority is driven by the potential for a stimulus to reduce future uncertainty through a process of learning, as opposed to maximizing current information gain. Public Significance Statement: Uncertainty is a ubiquitous feature of our experience of the world and may represent a common currency in neural processing. This study demonstrates that our attention is involuntarily drawn to unreliable sources of information even when more reliable or rewarding options are available, highlighting the role of uncertainty as a fundamental motivating force in attentional control. This drive to explore the unknown has broad implications for the way that we gather information from the environment. For instance, prioritizing stimuli whose consequences are currently unknown may be a central way that our attention system facilitates learning: by focusing on uncertain stimuli now, we can learn more about them, reducing our uncertainty when we encounter them again in the future. These findings could also shed light on attentional processes linked to anxiety and gambling, where individual differences in responses to uncertainty may play a central role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this work is to assess the knowledge and information management practices of women with a history of preeclampsia (PE), a serious complication of pregnancy with extensive impacts on maternal health and a leading cause of maternal death worldwide. Drawing from the theory of motivated information management (TMIM), we aim to assess the extent to which participants avoid or seek information about PE. A survey sent to 109 women managing PE revealed that participants lacked knowledge of PE signs and symptoms, a critical deficiency that can lead to future adverse outcomes. The data also fit the model predicted by TMIM with topic avoidance as the outcome variable: the greater the gap between what women knew and wanted to know about PE, the more anxiety experienced; more levels of anxiety increased negative appraisals about the consequences of PE-related conversations and decreased overall efficacy beliefs, which culminated in information avoidance. Results have implications for how PE survivors interpret the information received about the condition, evaluate their communication options and abilities, and make decisions to seek information vital to safeguarding their health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curiosity – the desire to seek information – is fundamental for learning and performance. Studies on curiosity have shown that people are intrinsically motivated to seek information even if it does not bring an immediate tangible benefit (i.e., non-instrumental information), but little is known as to whether people have the metacognitive capability to accurately monitor their motivation for seeking information. We examined whether people can accurately predict their own non-instrumental information-seeking behavior. Across six experiments (Experiments 1A–1E and 2, total N = 579), participants predicted that they would engage in information-seeking behavior less frequently than they actually did, suggesting that people tend to underestimate the motivational lure of curiosity. Overall, there was no consistent statistical evidence that this underestimation was altered by contextual factors (e.g., the cost to seek information). These results were consistent with the theoretical account that it is difficult for people to make sense of the internally rewarding value of information in advance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In democratic societies around the world, the number of science policy decisions is increasing. One of the fundamental principles of democracy is that citizens should be able to understand the issues before them. Using a 63-year cross-sectional US data set, we use confirmatory factor analysis to construct and test a two-dimensional measure of attitude to science and technology that has been relatively stable over the last six decades. Previous and current research tells us that only one in three US adults is scientifically literate, meaning that trust in scientific expertise is important to many citizens. We find that trust in scientific expertise polarized during the Trump administration. Using the same data set, we construct two structural equation models to determine the factors that predict positive attitudes toward science and technology. Comparing 2016 and 2020, we find that the Trump attacks on science did not reduce public support for science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine the relationships among health literacy, risk perceptions, COVID-19 information overload, health information seeking, and race/ethnicity. Design: A cross-sectional non-probability community survey conducted between December 2020 and January 2021. A questionnaire was developed in collaboration with a local minority health task force. Setting: Albany, New York, USA. Sample: 331 adults residing in Albany, NY and neighboring areas (80.3% completion rate). Measures: Multi-item scales were used to measure health literacy, perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, information overload, and health information seeking frequency and types. Analysis: We conducted multivariate regression analysis. Results: Health literacy (standardized β = −.33, P <.001) and perceived severity (β = −.23, P <.001) were negatively associated with information overload. Information overload was negatively associated with health information seeking frequency (β = −.16, P <.05) and types (β = −.19, P <.01). A further analysis shows several factors, including information overload and race (African Americans), were negatively related to seeking specific types of information. Conclusion: We find that low health literacy and perceived severity contribute to information overload and that information overload adversely affects health information seeking. Black individuals are less likely to search for certain types of information. The cross-sectional study design limits our ability to determine causality. Future research should employ panel data to determine the directionality of the observed relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to assess university students' engagement with political information regarding the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis through social media and its correlation with satisfaction with the governmental performance during the crisis. The researcher utilized a media survey methodology with a sample of 400 Egyptian university students from Cairo University, Al-Azhar University, 6th of October University, and the American University in Cairo. Purposive sampling was employed, and data was collected through a questionnaire. Key findings of the study include : - Facebook was the most utilized social media platform by university students for seeking political information about the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis, followed by YouTube and X-platform. - University students used social media primarily for rapid information access and staying updated on local and international events. - The official presidential website was the top source for news and political information on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis, followed by the Cabinet's and Ministry of Foreign Affairs' websites. - Cognitive impacts included identifying agricultural and electricity generation alternatives in Egypt and understanding the risks posed by the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. - Emotional impacts involved feelings of sadness over Egypt's reduced Nile water share and concerns about agricultural and general livelihoods were the most reported. - Behavioral impacts included supporting peaceful solutions by the Egyptian leadership and creating content related to the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis were also, reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the theory of motivated information management (TMIM), this study tested the degree to which sexual minorities' uncertainty discrepancy about their partner's communication about their relationship to their family of origin predicted their information management strategies and relational quality (i.e., closeness and satisfaction). Participants included 111 sexual minorities involved in a monogamous romantic relationship. Results supported the theoretic logic of the TMIM, as uncertainty discrepancy positively predicted negative emotions, which in turn negatively predicted SMs' outcome expectancies and efficacy assessments but positively predicted direct and indirect information seeking. Indirect effects emerged for uncertainty discrepancy on direct information seeking and information avoidance, as well as for relational closeness and satisfaction, via the mechanisms specified by the TMIM. Importantly, this study reveals relational ambivalence that sexual minorities may experience as a result of managing their uncertainty about their partner's relationship disclosures to their partner's family-of-origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite robust scientific and medical consensus on vaccine effectiveness, many people remain hesitant to get vaccinated against life-threatening diseases. Considering the importance of information seeking in a misinformation-filled landscape to make critical decisions such as vaccination behavior, we set out to understand information seeking intention about vaccines. Using COVID-19 vaccines as the context, we conducted an experiment to examine the impact of individual vs. collective messages on information seeking intention. Our findings show significant main effects of the messages, and we discover a complex picture of the moderating roles of institutional trust and perceived benefits with messages on information seeking intention. Specifically, our findings show that among people with lower perceived benefits of vaccination, and with a higher trust in authoritative organizations, exposure to individually framed messaging results in greater information-seeking intention. But when people have low perceived benefits and also low trust in authoritative organizations, collectively framed messages show a persuasive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) literacy allows young adults to make informed decisions about health outcomes. In Peru, roughly one fifth of the population lives in rural areas, and little is known about where young adults in rural areas get their SRH information. The aim of this study was to identify what motivates and influences young adults to seek information and care related to SRH in three rural communities in the highlands of Northern Peru. Methods: Five gender-stratified focus group discussions with a total of 24 participants, and nine follow-up interviews were conducted to generate in-depth narrative data and triangulate data from the target group. Participants were women and men aged 18–24. The focus group discussions and interviews explored sources of reproductive health information, the role of informal social networks, barriers to care, and primary health concerns of the target population. Results: Main findings include: (1) The two greatest perceived SRH risks were unwanted pregnancy and abnormal discharge; (2) There appears to be limited concern about HIV or other sexually transmitted infections in the narratives; (3) There is a low quality of information concerning SRH, with discrepancies between the genders; (4) A broad spectrum of sources for SRH information were cited, including Internet, traditional healers, and specialized care; and varied by gender and life experience; (5) Having trust in the information source was the primary variable associated with uptake of services and/or access to information for both men and women. However, men reported more embarrassment around seeking services and information, whereas women faced more physical barriers. Conclusions: There is a lack of SRH information among young adults in some communities in the northern highlands of Peru. Both schools and health centers were noted as being trusted and established information sources for all genders so could be a key resource to explore as a way to disseminate information. Plain Language Summary: Access to reliable and accurate information about sexual and reproductive health (SRH) allows people to make educated and informed decisions about their reproductive choices. This can lead to more desirable outcomes, including lower rates of teen pregnancy. Access to SRH information is not universal and can be impacted by various factors including politics, religion, and culture. Much of what is known about SRH in the rural regions of Peru comes from the national census data, which is collected through surveys and does not allow for open ended answers. Our study held in-depth interviews with young adults in the Amazonas department of Peru to get a better understanding about what SRH concerns they have and where they learn about SRH information. The study findings showed a limited level of SRH knowledge in this community in Peru. Having trust in a person is the most important factor participants considered when deciding where to seek information from. Participants cited parents, particularly mothers, teachers, and the internet as trusted SRH information sources, none of which were necessarily reliable. There was widespread agreement among the participants, that their opposite gender had better access to SRH information. Though results varied between male and female participants, with men being less willing to seek information and women facing more physical barriers to access. In conclusion, more reliable and consistent options for adolescents to learn about SRH are needed. Established networks of trusted sources, like schools and clinics, could be utilized when considering dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intersection of bibliographic control and information behavior is explored in 237 issues of CCQ literature published from 1980–2023 using a combination of expanded searches within three prominent journal databases and frequency analysis of the terms "user", "seek", and "behavior" in the approximately 2,391 published items. The database searches, while inconsistent, produced a set of 43 articles (approx. 2%). Frequency and mention rates analysis using Voyant provided unique insight into both high and low occurrences of the terms. Cross-referencing both data sets produced a set of 37 volumes/issues with two prominent clusters between the years of 2009 and 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To evaluate gynaecological patients' preferences and satisfaction regarding information provision, exploring enablers and barriers to information access. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used. Methods: A total of 293 women accessing gynaecological services responded to the survey. Quantitative analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics. Content analysis was conducted on qualitative data. Results: Health professionals were the most common and preferred sources of gynaecological health information. Enablers to information provision included positive communication strategies by health professionals, participants having prior knowledge and doing their own research. Despite its widespread availability, only 24.2% of women preferred the internet as an information source. Poor communication and inadequate information provision were identified as barriers to information access. Statistically significant associations were identified between location of residence, education level, year of birth, diagnostic group and health information preferences. Recommendations from women included improved communication strategies, system changes and provision of individualized information. Conclusion: Health professionals are central to women accessing information about gynaecological diagnoses. Areas for improvement include communication strategies, facilitating access to internet-based resources for information and consideration of women's preferences when providing health information. Implications for the Profession and Patient Care: Consumer co-design of gynaecological health information and communication training for health professionals is recommended. Improved communication and facilitated use of internet-based resources may improve women's understanding of information. Impact: • This study explored gynaecological patients' preferences and satisfaction regarding information provision, exploring enablers and barriers to information access. • It was found that gynaecological patients preferred individualized information provided to them directly by health professionals and despite its widespread availability, the internet is an underutilized health information resource. • These findings are applicable to health professionals and patients utilizing tertiary gynaecological health services in Australia but may be generalized if demographic data aligns with other jurisdictions. Reporting Method: The STROBE reporting method was used in the preparation of the manuscript. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractTeachers’ conceptions of geography play a key role in teacher identity. They also impact students’ learning. This paper aims to describe teacher students’ conceptions of geography and their sources.Our data comes from two online questionnaires. Participants came from Switzerland (nQ1 = 20, nQ3 = 98). In contrast to previous research, participants in our studies could not be assigned to only one conception. Eight of 11 statements about what geography is and five of eight statements about the main purpose of geography education were endorsed by 90% or more of participants in both studies. This includes those about understanding sustainability and the system earth. Some items showed significant differences by migration background and by the grade level the students want to teach.While the results are mostly positive, teacher educators need to find ways to reach those students who do not yet have a current view of geography, e.g. regarding the role of sustainability.Participants saw diverse sources as shaping their conceptions. Most participants saw specialist literature as an influential and often-used source. Yet, many knew few empirical studies about teaching/learning the subject.Teacher educators and researchers thus need to find ways to make research literature more memorable for teacher students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social norms messages may promote information seeking, especially when the norms refer to a group with which a person identifies. We hypothesized that tailored social norms messages would increase COVID-19 testing willingness and intentions. College students (n = 203, 75% female, 87% White) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 (Descriptive norms: Relevant vs. Irrelevant to COVID-19 testing) x 2 (Tailoring: Specific vs. General group information) experimental design. Participants reported COVID-19 testing willingness and intentions, perceived injunctive norms, and identification and connectedness with the group in the message. Although neither the norm nor tailoring manipulation worked as intended, participants who perceived greater message tailoring and injunctive norms reported greater willingness and intentions, with no effect of perceived descriptive norms on either outcome. Tailored messages as well as messages promoting injunctive norms may promote information seeking across health contexts, thereby enabling more informed decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People were confronted with a barrage of negative news during the COVID-19 crisis. This study investigated how anticipated psychological impact predicted decisions to read personalized and factual COVID-19 news. First, participants chose, based on headlines, whether they wanted to read news articles (or not). Then, all headlines were rated on a set of motivational dimensions. In order to test confirmatory hypotheses, the data were divided into an exploration (n = 398) and validation data set (n = 399). Using multilevel modeling, we found robust support for four preregistered hypotheses: Choice for negative COVID-19 news was positively predicted by (a) personal versus factual news; (b) the anticipated amount of knowledge acquisition; (c) the anticipated relevance to one's own personal situation; and (d) participant's sense of moral duty. Moreover, exploratory findings suggested a positive relationship between headline choice and anticipated compassion, a negative relationship with anticipated inappropriateness and gratitude, and a quadratic relationship with anticipated strength of feelings. These results support the idea that negative content offers informational value, both in terms of understanding negative events and in terms of preparing for these events. Furthermore, engagement with negative content can be motivated by moral values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an increasingly digitized world, online information-seeking (OIS) behaviors have reflected people's intentions and constituted a critical component in synthesizing public opinion. Climate change is among the gravest threats facing the world today, and previous studies have adopted OIS data to gauge public interest in climate change. However, such studies have ignored the psychological attributes of search keywords and the role of social identities in influencing OIS. This study explores whether search strategies align with the expected confirmation biases of regions with different partisan beliefs. We use spatial web search trends to show the significant differences in the search keywords adopted by the Democrat-majority ("climate change") versus the Republican-majority ("global warming") regions of the United States. Furthermore, using the region-level search and survey data (2008–2018), we demonstrate that the preferential use of search keywords can predict climate opinions. This study concludes by discussing the significant findings and the open questions for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Often, when an offender is sentenced their family and friends find themselves in a state of uncertainty. At this point, family and friends of prisoners need support and often find themselves alone to navigate and learn the correctional system to gain visitation approval. It is unknown how people new to visitation learns the rules and processes of prison visits to gain visitation access. This study explores 21 prison visitors’ information-seeking behaviour to understanding how people new to prison visitation learns to navigate the system to obtain visitation approval and identify any factors that might imped their ability to information-seek, thus delaying or preventing visitation. Using Flexible Pattern Matching Analysis we identified five factors that can occur prior to individual’s need to information-seek, and one key factor that was common during the visit experience that can impact peoples ‘ability to information seek’. Implications for prison visitation policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The arrival of ChatGPT has prompted numerous conversations about artificial intelligence's role in shaping the future of libraries. Our article seeks to contextualize this new technology within music discovery research by defining the historical underpinnings of artificial intelligence in computer music and music information retrieval. We also identify four areas in librarianship research and practice where applications of this technology should be explored; augmenting library interactions with conversational search, creating tools to assist with metadata clean up and creation, integrating music holdings into commercial discovery systems, and improving music discovery platforms. We hope by identifying potential areas of research we inspire others with practical ways they can contribute to the shape of artificial intelligence in music discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia ranks in the top three in Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemics worldwide with modest achievement in disease management. Electronic health literacy (EHL) is increasingly considered an important predictor to promote positive health behavior (e.g., knowledge, treatment adherence) in patients with chronic diseases like HIV. This study aimed to evaluate the pattern of information seeking among HIV patients, the relationship between EHL, patients' knowledge, and treatment adherence. Data were collected through a survey distributed to HIV patients during their regular monthly visits to two government-owned primary health centers in West Jakarta during August-September 2023. Spearman test was used to evaluate the relationship between EHL with patients' knowledge and EHL with treatment adherence. There were 62 study patients, with the majority male (77.4%), of productive age, secondary school graduates (77.4%) and having occupations (82.2%). Websites of healthcare providers and social media accounted for the most common online sources navigated by patients. Patients had high scores on EHL (median = 25). The majority of them had a good level of HIV-related knowledge (91.9%) and low adherence to medications (66.1%). This study found no significant relationship between EHL and knowledge (correlation = 0.081, p=0.529) and medication adherence (correlation = -0.086, p=0.508). In conclusion, EHL is not a significant predictor for improving patients' knowledge and medication adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To test whether the risk information seeking and processing model performs consistently when a risk is viewed at different levels of personal relevance, this study focuses on the context of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. Results from an experimental survey (N = 1,323) indicate that informational subjective norms play a bigger role when PFAS contamination is portrayed as having lower relevance to participants. Moreover, trust in government and trust in science are associated with information seeking only in the low relevance condition. Finally, the different results of worry and anxiety suggest a need to better understand discrete emotions' impact on information seeking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Those affected by catastrophic events like hurricanes are burdened with the task of preparing for and responding to the threats of harm in addition to dealing with the emotionally taxing process of consuming and sharing disaster-related information. However, little is known about how threats and emotions during natural disasters impact media usage for information seeking and sharing. This study examined the relationship between the perceived threat of disasters (including disaster severity and involvement recognition), negative emotions, and information seeking and forwarding/sharing via different types of media. We surveyed over 600 adults in U.S. counties impacted by Hurricane Florence in 2018. Our findings show that negative crisis emotions mediated the relationship between threat appraisals and information seeking and sharing behaviors. In our discussion, we suggest how disaster/emergency communication professionals can prepare and respond to disasters by knowing how emotions influence individuals' communicative behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This piece explores the philosophical origins of sense-making as defined in Brenda Dervin's methodology. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper locates the origins of sense-making's rich ontological, epistemological and etymological heritage to the Classical Greece and the Pre-Socratic period. The Greek origins of sense-making's philosophical undercurrents surface again in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit before the idea is picked up again in twentieth century philosophy and library science. Findings: This is a conceptual paper and no empirical findings are presented. Originality/value: This paper makes an original contribution to the study of information seeking and to sense making theory and methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people feel curious, they often seek information to resolve their curiosity. Reaching resolution, however, does not always occur in a single step but instead may follow the accumulation of information over time. Here, we investigated changes in curiosity over a dynamic information-gathering process and how these changes related to affective and cognitive states as well as behavior. Human participants performed an Evolving Line Drawing Task, during which they reported guesses about the drawings’ identities and made choices about whether to keep watching. In Study 1, the timing of choices was predetermined and externally imposed, while in Study 2, participants had agency in the timing of guesses and choices. Using this dynamic paradigm, we found that even within a single information-gathering episode, curiosity evolved in concert with other emotional states and with confidence. In both studies, we showed that the relationship between curiosity and confidence depended on stimulus entropy (unique guesses across participants) and on guess accuracy. We demonstrated that curiosity is multifaceted and can be experienced as either positive or negative depending on the state of information gathering. Critically, even when given the choice to alleviate uncertainty immediately (i.e., view a spoiler), higher curiosity promoted continuing to engage in the information-gathering process. Collectively, we show that curiosity changes over information accumulation to drive engagement with external stimuli, rather than to shortcut the path to resolution, highlighting the value inherent in the process of discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using panel data from mainland China, this study incorporates uncertainty, information seeking, and social support into the goal disruption theoretical model to examine the indirect influence of goal disruption on psychological disequilibrium through uncertainty and the moderating roles of information seeking and social support in this relationship. The results demonstrate that goal disruption causes uncertainty and then leads to psychological disequilibrium. Information seeking can reduce uncertainty and social support can attenuate psychological disequilibrium as well. Limitations and further directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]