Satiation and Curiosity

This chapter discusses nature of exploration, its relation to early motivational interpretations, and the manner in which these interpretations may be successfully accommodated within a drive and incentive-motivational theory.

Abstract

This chapter discusses nature of exploration, its relation to early motivational interpretations, and the manner in which these interpretations may be successfully accommodated within a drive and incentive-motivational theory. The concept of an exploratory drive obtains tentative operational expression in the length and constancy of the animal's exposure to an impinging stimulus condition, or conversely, with the animal's "deprivation" of a change in stimulation. Correspondingly, the magnitude of the incentive or reinforcement involved in the learning of instrumental behaviors may be related to the magnitude of the change in stimulation that is provided by the relatively novel or unfamiliar stimuli to and for which the animal responds. The problem of delineating exploratory phenomena might be viewed with respect to a resolution on the basis of a presumed effect of exploration, that is, the commonly held position that exploratory behaviors have the prime function of altering those stimuli currently impinging upon the organism. Thus, exploration as a label may be relegated to those behaviors that are instrumental to the animal's receipt of relatively novel or changed stimuli.