Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Exploration and exploitation decision-making are crucial cognitive processes, often guided by an individual’s knowledge state. The information gap theory posits that lesser knowledge enhances exploration, yet the differential impacts of factual versus perceived knowledge on exploration preferences are not thoroughly understood. This research aims to bridge this gap by independently manipulating factual and perceived knowledge to assess their separate effects on exploration behaviors. Through three studies, we discovered that individuals with less factual knowledge explored more intensely and for longer durations, but only when they were explicitly aware of their information gaps. Furthermore, our findings reveal that the perception of insufficient knowledge can trigger increased exploration, independent of the factual knowledge possessed. Our studies illuminate the significant impact of metacognitive states on exploration preferences, advancing our understanding of how people decide whether to explore or exploit.