A toaster belongs in a kitchen. Put the same toaster in an office and it is more unexpected. That simple difference is a starting point for my PhD: does information that fits our expectations get priority, or does the unexpected draw us in?
The next question is what happens when reward enters the picture. If we learn that unexpected objects are more likely to be rewarded, does that change the balance? And would the answer be the same for becoming aware of an object, looking at it, and remembering it?
Expectations are part of the question
In the proposed studies, an object’s fit with a scene is described as its semantic consistency. A consistent object fits what we would expect from everyday experience. An inconsistent object does not.
This gives the research a concrete comparison. Rather than treating all unexpected information as equivalent, I can compare objects and contexts within a controlled task, then examine how learning about reward changes their priority.
The task matters too. Learning about an object while deciding whether it belongs in a scene may have different consequences from learning about it while focusing on another feature.
Reward has a history
The presence of reward is only one part of the proposed research. Its predictability also matters to the question.
Imagine that both expected and unexpected objects are initially just as likely to be rewarded. Later, one category becomes much more likely to predict reward. Comparing these situations allows me to ask how processing changes as people learn the association.
The aim is to investigate that shift across three domains. Awareness studies ask about access to consciousness. Eye tracking examines where people look and how long they look. Memory tasks ask what they later recognise or recall.
Following an open question
Active inference informs the broader framing of the project: the relationship between maintaining useful expectations and learning from information that does not fit them.
The empirical questions remain open. The PhD will investigate when each kind of information receives priority, and how learning, task demands and reward influence the balance. Following that balance across awareness, attention and memory is what connects the studies.