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Curiosity for answers grows with age
Researchers separate trait curiosity, being a curious person who has trouble if they don't learn the answer, from state curiosity. State curiosity is triggered when someone is given an interesting bit of information without the answer.
Trait curiosity tends to decline with age, which was perplexing given how many curious older people there are. State curiosity, when the question is about something a person cares about, increases with age.
This probably guides memory as people get older, because they remember the things they care about, and curiosity makes that stronger. A neurochemical pathway is probably still engaged even though all sorts of things decline with age. The tests used trivia questions because they give experimental control, and the findings suggest an interest in hiking, bird watching, or skateboarding can still percolate at 70 or 80.
How does curiosity switch learning on?
In a 2009 study, Min Jeong Kang and colleagues showed people trivia questions and measured their curiosity. Curiosity was highest for questions where people had some idea of the answer but were not sure. Brain imaging showed more activity in the caudate, a reward-related region, when curiosity was high. Curiosity peaked at moderate uncertainty rather than total ignorance.
Why do researchers use trivia questions to study curiosity?
Trivia gives scientists a controlled way to trigger curiosity, since every participant sees the same questions and rates their own interest in each. The answers can be revealed at exact moments to measure memory afterward. Psychologist Daniel Berlyne laid the groundwork in the 1950s and 1960s, describing curiosity as a drive to resolve uncertainty. Trivia questions fit that definition neatly, because each leaves a gap that an answer fills.
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