In our lead up to #ICA25, we are providing information about papers that received Top Paper awards from the Communication Science and Biology (CSaB) Interest Group. Each paper received exceptionally high scores from reviewers. These papers reflect outstanding scholarship in CSaB. Today’s Top Paper features Xuanjun (Jason) Gong, Erie Boorman, Cuihua (Cindy) Shen, and Richard Huskey’s paper: “Individual Curiosity Modulates Exploration in Sequential Book Selection”. Be sure to check out the paper at #ICA25.
CSaB: In a few short sentences, what is your study about?
We investigated how people choose books as a learning and exploration process within a semantic space. We found that readers rely on two decision strategies, reward generalization and directed exploration, and that these strategies are shaped by trait curiosity, where higher intrinsic motivation leads to greater exploration of novel and uncertain books.
CSaB: How did you come up with the idea for this line of research?
This study was initiated from a lunch chat between Jason and Richard over Tacos for Jason’s dissertation.
CSaB: Tell us more about the team!
We’re a research team passionate about combining computational and biological approaches to understand behavior and cognition in communication. Our goal is to build models that explain and predict media use—and to conduct research that helps create a healthier, more meaningful media environment.