reward properties of conceptual novelty

This study tested the hypothesis that conceptually novel information is rewarding. This study operationalized conceptually novel information as novel function descriptions of everyday objects and investigated its rewarding properties by measuring three reward-driven behaviors and states: willingness to wait, subjective feelings of pleasure and interest, and capacity to compete with other rewards. Experiment 1, which used a between-subjects design, revealed that participants were more willing to wait for conceptually novel information, and exposure to such information elicited more positive emotional experiences. Experiment 2, employing a within-subjects design, replicated this pattern: when participants could predict the type of information, they were more inclined to invest time to obtain conceptually novel information. Experiment 3 introduced a critical condition in which conceptually novel information conflicted with monetary rewards, showing that participants were willing to sacrifice monetary gains to access such information.