Uncertainty Tolerance Dissociates Sensation Seeking and Impulsivity

Sensation seeking (SS) is the drive to pursue novel and intense experiences, often despite associated risks. Thus, it is commonly assumed to reflect a heightened valuation of stimulation. Yet, intense experiences are also highly informative, raising a key question: Does SS reflect a preference for intensity or for information/uncertainty? We address this in two studies. In Experiment 1, we fit learning-based choice models to a prior dataset and found that an uncertainty-weighted account explained behaviour better than a purely intensity-weighted account, with higher SS linked to reduced uncertainty aversion. In a preregistered Experiment 2, we investigated the joint contribution of intensity and uncertainty. We demonstrate that SS contributions are context-dependent: when stimulation was valued less, higher SS predicted greater uncertainty-tolerance (i.e., higher information-seeking). In contrast, when stimulation was highly valued, higher SS shifted toward uncertainty avoidance. By contrast, impulsivity (IP) showed a distinct profile consistent with uncertainty aversion when stimulation was valued less. These results reveal SS as a joint, context-dependent function of value and uncertainty processing, rather than a single process. This framework reconciles how SS can support adaptive exploration in some settings yet promote maladaptive risk in others, and it provides a mechanistic dissociation from impulsivity with implications for targeted intervention and developmental theory.