HOW CURIOSITY CHANGE THE BRAIN TO ENHANCE LEARNING
The more curious we
are about a topic, the easier it is to learn information about that topic. New
research publishing online October 2 in the Cell Press journal Neuron provides insights into what happens in our
brains when curiosity is piqued. The findings could help scientists find ways
to enhance overall learning and memory in both healthy individuals and those
with neurological conditions.
Our findings potentially have far-reaching implications for the
public because they reveal insights into how a form of intrinsic motivation --
curiosity -- affects memory. These findings suggest ways to enhance learning in
the classroom and other settings," says lead author Dr. Matthias Gruber,
of University of California at Davis.
For the study, participants rated their curiosity to learn the
answers to a series of trivia questions. When they were later presented with a
selected trivia question, there was a 14 second delay before the answer was
provided, during which time the participants were shown a picture of a neutral,
unrelated face. Afterwards, participants performed a surprise recognition
memory test for the faces that were presented, followed by a memory test for
the answers to the trivia questions. During certain parts of the study,
participants had their brains scanned via functional magnetic resonance
imaging.
The study revealed three major findings. First, as expected,
when people were highly curious to find out the answer to a question, they were
better at learning that information. More surprising, however, was that once
their curiosity was aroused, they showed better learning of entirely unrelated
information (face recognition) that they encountered but were not necessarily
curious about. People were also better able to retain the information learned
during a curious state across a 24-hour delay. "Curiosity may put the
brain in a state that allows it to learn and retain any kind of information,
like a vortex that sucks in what you are motivated to learn, and also
everything around it," explains Dr. Gruber.
Second, the investigators found that when curiosity is
stimulated, there is increased activity in the brain circuit related to reward.
"We showed that intrinsic motivation actually recruits the very same brain
areas that are heavily involved in tangible, extrinsic motivation," says
Dr. Gruber. This reward circuit relies on dopamine, a chemical messenger that
relays messages between neurons.
Third, the team discovered that when curiosity motivated
learning, there was increased activity in the hippocampus, a brain region that
is important for forming new memories, as well as increased interactions
between the hippocampus and the reward circuit. "So curiosity recruits the
reward system, and interactions between the reward system and the hippocampus
seem to put the brain in a state in which you are more likely to learn and
retain information, even if that information is not of particular interest or
importance," explains principal investigator Dr. Charan Ranganath, also of
UC Davis.
The findings could have implications for medicine and beyond.
For example, the brain circuits that rely on dopamine tend to decline in
function as people get older, or sooner in people with neurological conditions.
Understanding the relationship between motivation and memory could therefore
stimulate new efforts to improve memory in the healthy elderly and to develop
new approaches for treating patients with disorders that affect memory. And in
the classroom or workplace, learning what might be considered boring material
could be enhanced if teachers or managers are able to harness the power of
students' and workers' curiosity about something they are naturally motivated
to learn.
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