When we explore a new domain, we are mapping the motivation al or affective significance of the things or situations that are characteristic of our goal-directed interactions within that domain, and we use the sensory information we encounter to identif)r what is important. It is the determination of speeifte meaning, or emotional significance, in previously unexplored territory-not identification of the objective features-that allows us to inhibit the novelty-induced terror and curiosity emergence of that territory otherwise automatically elicits. We feel comfortable somewhere new, once we
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