You are more engaged, active, and open-minded when you’re curious. But what is it about curiosity that makes it so powerful? In this issue, we explore the psychology of curiosity and three surprising ways it changes your brain.
Curiosity Boosts Memory
In a study published in 2014, researchers discovered a connection between memory and curiosity levels. Here are some of the key findings from the investigation by the University of California at Davis:
- When people are curious to learn the answer to a question, they are better at learning that information – not only in the very short term but also after a 24-hour delay.
- Most surprising, though, was participants had greater recall of unrelated, extraneous or incidental information present at the time.
- Scans revealed when people were more curious, brain activity rose in regions that transmit dopamine signals; in the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with memory and regions related to reward.
Point number two helps me get a handle on the characteristic of being open-minded. We can remember more of our experiences when we are curious.
A little test you can do for this is to try and remember extraneous information connected to an enjoyable learning experience.
Risk and Reward
When faced with something new, our brain weighs the risks and rewards before deciding whether to engage.
This happens when you are scrolling and decide to open an article or photo. You made a similar micro-calculation when you saw the subject of this email. Is this worth my time?
Curiosity, the restless feeling of wanting to know more, tips the scales in favour of exploration.
The regions deep in your brain responsible for processing rewards and motivation are active when you become curious. The nucleus accumbens, the bilateral caudate nucleus, and the ventral tegmental area all fire up when we want to know more.
When we’re curious, our brain has decided the potential rewards outweigh the risks. And this instinctive risk/reward calculation drives us to explore the physical and mental world around us.
Designing provocations for learning is a great way to heighten curiosity, so your students don’t scroll by!
Curiosity Powers Our Motivation to Learn
When was the last time you discovered something new in a favourite topic? Experiences which challenge our knowledge increase curiosity and cause us to explore for longer.
Here’s a recent example I experienced.
Most of our understanding of effective teaching has shifted since I was a primary teacher. I am curious about this tweet about Adaptive Teaching vs Differentiation, which presents the following statement:
Having lower expectations for some groups, particularly by setting them different work, will result in pupils having different knowledge and worsens gaps.
Challenged? ✅ Curious? ✅ Motivated to find out more? ✅
All new learning challenges the schemas we use to organise knowledge and understanding. A study by researchers Bonawitz, Schijndel, Friel, and Schulz found children are more likely to remain curious in this challenged state.
An unpublished Duke University study also showed heightened curiosity, increased patience and made people more willing to wait to discover a solution. In contrast, less curious people were more impatient and wanted to jump straight to the answers.
More curiosity has the power to motivate us for longer and increase our patience for discovery.
⏭🎯 Your Next Steps
Commit to action and turn words into works
- Pay attention to the signals of your own curiosity and the positive impact it has on your learning.
- Don’t just tell people they need to be open minded. Use provocations and well designed questions to increase curiosity.
- Change the start of your next few lessons or workshops to optimise for curiosity.
🗣💬 Your Talking Points
Lead a team dialogue with these provocations
- Your challenge is to increase curiosity in your team. What do you need from me?
- What’s the best way to challenge long-held views?
- When was the last time you changed your mind?