The impact of stimulus uncertainty on attentional control.

We argue that stimulus uncertainty induces a cognitive state that can be linked to a concept that has been formerly described as 'curiosity' (Berlyne, 1949) - a state that motivates the agent to reduce the uncertainty by exploring it. In two attention filtering tasks we varied response compatibility and stimulus congruency. In addition, we manipulated whether stimulus congruency was predictable or random. In conditions with random presentation the impact of congruency on compatibility was more pronounced suggesting that stimulus congruency was processed more strongly in a random environment. While this makes no sense from a short term strategic perspective in the laboratory, this allocation of attention to uncertain stimulus conditions makes perfect sense outside the laboratory. The impact of uncertainty on attentional control should not be considered a leakage but rather an investment into possible future opportunities.