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Unravelling the motivations to wisely seek information

Objective

Each day, 60% of the world’s population engages in online information consumption, often encountering negative content. For example, social media contains three times more negative than positive information. This exposure to negative information has been linked to adverse effects on people’s well-being and mental health. For example, persistent engagement with negative online content, often termed ‘doomscrolling’, heightens the risk of psychopathological conditions. This is an issue for both individuals grappling with deteriorating mental health and governments contending with such a decline. WiseSeek aims to confront this challenge by developing an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the mechanisms underlying decisions to consume information with such negative consequences, referred to as doom information consumption. First, I propose a new hypothesis that doom information consumption arises as a result of altered reinforcement learning dynamics within the value of information, and I introduce a novel computational model to test this. Second, I hypothesize that the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) plays a key role in computing such a value to guide information consumption. I will test this hypothesis using an innovative methodology that measures subsecond fluctuations in DA signals in conscious humans and pharmacological interventions. Third, I will test whether attention-based interventions can interfere with how the value of information is computed to change information consumption. Finally, lab findings will be translated to the real world by developing a novel web-based methodology. Laying at the frontiers of cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and computer science, WiseSeek will provide the first insights into the mechanisms underlying decisions to consume information with negative consequences on people’s well-being and mental health, with major implications for behavioral science, clinical psychology, public policy, and society as a whole.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG

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Host institution

UNIVERSITE LIBRE DE BRUXELLES
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 499 934,00
Address
AVENUE FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT 50
1050 Bruxelles / Brussel
Belgium

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Region
Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/ Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 499 934,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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