Curious people are smarter and learn better

A study confirms that curiosity is a key factor for learning.

A study published in the journal Neuronmagazine, affirms that curiosity is beneficial for learning. According to this research, people find it easier to memorize and retain information on subjects they are curious about, because this state of intrinsic motivation increases activity in the midbrain, nucleus accumbens and hippocampus (brain areas related to learning, memory and repetition of pleasurable behaviors).

Although many of us may have already experienced this at some point, these findings may help scientists find new ways to improve learning and memory, and may provide new educational strategies for teachers.

The relationship between curiosity and learning is not new

That we learn more quickly about those subjects that arouse our interest and curiosity is not new. Surely, when a person says "that he does not like or is not curious about what he is studying", he will have difficulties to learn well. In fact, we learn much better through meaningful learning. But this research provides information on how curiosity is related to the functioning of the brain and how intrinsic motivation affects learning.

Matthias Gruber and his collaborators conducted the research at the University of California and found that when we are curious about something, our mind not only absorbs what we are interested in, but we also memorize the facts surrounding it. We also memorize the data surrounding the subject of our interest, which is initially foreign to us.which is initially foreign to the object of curiosity. On the other hand, the researchers also concluded that the hippocampus, which helps memory formation, is more active when we show more interest.

Nucleus accumbens: motivation, pleasure and learning

One area of the brain involved with motivation and the repetition of pleasurable behaviors is the nucleus accumbens. nucleus accumbens (part of the reward system). It is located in both hemispheres, and receives afferents from several brain centers related to emotions. emotions (amygdala and hypothalamus) and memory. memory (emotional, procedural and declarative). In addition, it receives dopaminergic afferents from the ventral tegmental area and motor areas of the cortex. The presence of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens facilitates long-term memory and learning.

But the nucleus accumbens is also related to motivation, and curiosity triggers activation of the nucleus accumbens circuit. curiosity triggers the activation of the reward circuit. (of which the nucleus accumbens is a part). Guber states, "We have shown that intrinsic motivation actually recruits the same areas of the brain that are strongly involved in tangible extrinsic motivation."

On the other hand, as other research in the past has concluded, in order to activate the nucleus accumbens it is necessary that the event be novel and unexpected (not consistent with the information we have stored in our memory). After this research, it seems that curiosity, which can be understood as the search for novelty or the desire to know or find out something, also activates the nucleus accumbens.

Study data and conclusions

To conduct the study, 19 students were recruited to rate more than 100 trivia questions, indicating their degree of curiosity (from 0 to 6) and their perceived self-confidence in answering them correctly.

The scientists then measured the brain activity of each subject using the imaging technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). (fMRI). Meanwhile, on a screen, each participant was shown the questions they had rated as curious or not curious, and each question took 14 seconds to appear. In this time interval, images of faces appeared with a facial expression that had nothing to do with the questions.

Later, the students answered these questions and, in addition, they were given a surprise test in which they had to remember the faces. The results indicated that the subjects remembered the faces in theThe results indicated that the subjects remembered the faces in 71% of the cases in which they had rated the question as curious. In contrast, in the questions that had been rated as non-curious, only 54% of the faces were recalled.. This was not surprising.

But what did surprise the researchers was that when analyzing the face recognition test, the more curious the participants rated a photo (from 0 to 6), the more faces they remembered. Moreover, despite the fact that the faces were unrelated to the questions, they memorized them even 24 hours later.

Summarizing

In summary, after the study, the researchers stated that:

• The state of curiosity helps to improve learningWe memorize topics that are more interesting to us (even if they are more difficult).
• When "the state of curiosity" is activated in our brain, we are able to retain information, even incidental material, even incidental material (that about which we are not so curious at first).
• The state of curiosity activates the nucleus accumbens and the midbrain in our brains. (areas involved in learning, memory, motivation and reinforcement of pleasurable behaviors) and the hippocampus.
• The material we learn when our brain is activated in this way lasts much longer, leading to meaningful learning. material we learn when our brain is activated in this way lasts much longer, leading to meaningful learning..