Information Metrics for Novelty Level Preference of First- and Fifth-Grade Children

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate children's preference for novel stimuli, using the h metric to measure the information offered by three levels of novelty. Defining these levels by across-trials probabilities made possible calculation of three h values, one for each novelty level: 0.0, 0.41, and 2.0 bits. As predicted by the major hypothesis, preferences of first- and fifth-grade children, as measured by choice percentage, was a positive function of bit value. The secondary hypothesis, that both grades would show similar increasing functions for choice percentage with increasing information, also was confirmed. Future application of h in testing the relative arousal capacity of the collative variables, novelty, variety, and uncertainty is discussed.