Novelty detection in the brain

[Hans de Vries]

Why do some people need more novelty than others? Like some people can visit the same few places over and over again while others need to visit new ones constantly and feel bad if forced to stay in one place etc etc

 

Is it because their brain actually detect less novelty or because they do detect novelty but value it more strongly?

[Bufofrog]

3 minutes ago, Hans de Vries said:

Why do some people need more novelty than others?

Because everybody is different.  Some people like chocolate others like vanilla.  Some people like routines others don't. 

[Hans de Vries]

What is the neural mechanism of it though?

 

Is there some difference in the brain between novelty detection and novelty reward?

[Phi for All]

54 minutes ago, Hans de Vries said:

Is there some difference in the brain between novelty detection and novelty reward?

You're begging the question with this. How do you know someone's preference for travel is based on novelty alone?

Some folks like to go to the same place every year for vacation. They get to know the locals, they like the comfort of knowing their way around, and they feel more a part of where they're staying, and less like a tourist.

Others prefer a different venue each time they travel. Being a tourist is a fantastic thing for them, with everyone waiting to help you enjoy what their locale has to offer. It's not as much about the novelty as it is the sheer number of places on Earth to visit with the limited resources (including time) we have.

There are MANY perspectives on travel alone that have nothing to do with novelty.

[Hans de Vries]

I am not talking specifically about travel. There is a general variation among individuals in novelty preference in a wide variety of areas of life. Therehave to be some neural mechanisms that determine that difference. 

[Phi for All]

3 minutes ago, Hans de Vries said:

I am not talking specifically about travel. There is a general variation among individuals in novelty preference in a wide variety of areas of life. Therehave to be some neural mechanisms that determine that difference. 

I would imagine the influences are myriad. How does it help to determine where someone is on the novelty detection spectrum? Aren't we more influenced by how positively or negatively we associate with various stimuli? If your experience with meeting new people has been overall positive, you're more likely to experience less anxiety about such novelty, but if your experience has been mostly negative, meeting new people is not a pleasant prospect and is often actively avoided.

[iNow]

16 minutes ago, Hans de Vries said:

Therehave to be some neural mechanisms that determine that difference. 

There are, but it really has nothing to do with novelty and familiarity. It's all just basic reward mechanism and what drives the biggest dopamine hit for us / reduces cortisol and adrenaline levels. 

It's all related to experience. How we interpret new experiences against past experience. How that stimulates us intellectually and emotionally. How that triggers good and bad memories from childhood, etc.

Even experiencing the same place over and over and over again some more is going to be novel each and every time due to the way it IS a different experience each time... given how we've changed and evolved since the last time we experienced it... or even just given how we happen to be feeling that day, how we slept the night before, or what we most recently ate... every single time is a new experience even if we've been to the place before.

Your question is making too many assumptions and is really ill-formed. Every experience is novel. Novelty is not on/off binary, and instead exists along a spectrum of extremely novel or barely.