Table 1.

The typical features of novelty and surprise.

Features	Novelty	Surprise
Type of knowledge store, process involved	Memory, memory recall	Predictor, prediction
Variants of the knowledge and process involved	- Formation of new representations	- Deterministic expectations
	- Formation of new links between the representations of the features/components of the novel data	- Stochastic expectations
Time	Time not a key factor: items in memory are always available for comparison	Incoming data usually compared with a temporalized prediction
Processes for novelty/surprise triggering	One phase:	Two phases:
		- Formulation of prediction
	- Experience does not match memory	- Prediction is violated
Typical functions	- Support the formation of new representations	- Support the improvement of predictions
	- Generate learning signals for the sub-component detecting novelty, or for other sub-components	- Generate learning signals for the predicting sub-component or for other sub-components
	- Direct/motivate attention and learning resources to novel stimuli	- Direct/motivate attention and learning resources to unpredicted stimuli