The control of epistemic curiosity in the human brain

Epistemic curiosity (EC) is a cornerstone of human cognition that contributes to the actualization of our cognitive potential by stimulating a myriad of information-seeking behaviours. Yet, its fundamental relationship with uncertainty remains poorly understood, which limits our ability to predict within- and between-individual variability in the willingness to acquire knowledge. Here, a two-step stochastic trivia quiz designed to induce curiosity and manipulate answer uncertainty provided behavioural and neural evidence for an integrative model of EC inspired from predictive coding. More precisely, our behavioural data indicated an inverse relationship between average surprise and EC levels, which depended upon hemodynamic activity in the rostrolateral prefrontal cortex from one trial to another and from one individual to another. Complementary, the elicitation of epistemic surprise and the relief of acute curiosity states were respectively related to ventromedial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum activity. Taken together, our results account for the temporal evolution of EC over time, as well as for the interplay of EC, prior knowledge and surprise in controlling memory gain.