Science Weekly Revisited: is curiosity the key to ageing well?
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Dec 25, 2025 Matthias Gruber is a researcher at Cardiff University specializing in the neuroscience of curiosity, while Mary Whatley is an assistant professor at Western Carolina University focusing on age-related changes in curiosity. They discuss how curiosity evolves with age, revealing that it becomes more focused rather than diminishing. Curiosity activates brain circuits linked to memory retention and learning, and maintaining it in older age can safeguard cognitive health. However, they caution about the potential risks of curiosity, including vulnerability to misinformation.
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Researchers Use Trivia To Study Curiosity
- Matthias Gruber and Mary Whatley study curiosity itself and use trivia to measure it.
- They ask participants how curious they are to learn answers to specific questions to induce state curiosity.
Curiosity Primes Reward And Memory
- Curiosity activates the brain's dopaminergic reward circuit and the hippocampus before answers arrive.
- Matthias Gruber reports this anticipatory activity predicts better memory for upcoming information.
Anticipation Is The Reward
- Anticipation of answers, not the moment of satisfaction, drives the pleasurable part of curiosity.
- Experiments show people prefer waiting to retrieve answers themselves rather than receiving instant answers.