ONLINE TRAINING GLOBAL CITIZEN PROGRAM

Curiosity changes the brain to boost

better learning and memory
By sciencedaily.com,October, 2014
How big is our universe? How
much pollution does your car
cause? Could drinking too
much water actually kill you?

You could easily Google the

answers to these questions.
Before you do that, though,
think about how it feels to be
curious. At this moment, your
brain is hungry for knowledge
and getting ready for
answers. In 2014, a team of scientists learned what happens to the brain when people get curious. The
brain gets ready to learn about the topic we're curious about. It even gets ready to learn things that
have nothing to do with that topic.

Stimulating Curiosity
One of the scientists in the team was Charan Ranganath. He and the others asked people to look at
more than 100 questions. These people had to say how curious they were about each question. Next,
each person read the questions again while the scientists used a machine to see what their brains were
doing.

During the study, each person saw a question and then waited for 14 seconds. After that, the person
saw a picture of a face, and then the answer. The scientists tested the people to see how well they could
remember both the answers and the faces they had seen.

The scientists discovered that if someone was interested in a question they were better at remembering
the answer. People also had a better memory for the face that came before each answer. Somehow,
curiosity could prepare the brain for both.

Brain Activity
To understand better, the scientists looked at what people's brains were doing. They found that brains
went through some changes when they got curious. First, two areas in the middle of the brain got more
active. These are the areas that give out a chemical called dopamine. This chemical makes you feel
good when you get a reward. Finding out an answer to a question is like a treat for your brain.
ONLINE TRAINING GLOBAL CITIZEN PROGRAM

Image 2. Scientists found that when

people get curious, the hippocampus
becomes more active. This is the part of
the brain involved in the creation of
memories. Photo from Getty Images.

The scientists also found that the

hippocampus started working more.
This is a different part of the brain,
and it's in charge of making
memories. When all these parts of the
brain had many interactions with each
other, the person was better at
remembering faces. The brain's reward system prepared the hippocampus for learning.

These discoveries tell us many things. For one, Ranganath said they could help explain how hard it is for
people with low dopamine to learn and remember new things. Getting people to be more curious could
also make them better at remembering.

Sophie von Stumm is a brain scientist at Goldsmiths, University of London. She wondered what kinds of
information curious people are better at remembering. She also wanted to know if there's a difference
between people who are curious in general and people who are only curious about a specific question.

"It's Like An Itch That You Have To Scratch"

Marieke Jepma is a brain scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She was able to show that
curiosity is not exactly a fun experience. Our brain's reward system might not kick in until we find an
answer. We only start feeling happy at that point.

Jepma thinks that her discovery and Ranganath's might be two sides of the same coin. To explain why,
she gave the example of reading a mystery book. If you don't know who the murderer is, reading the
book only feels good because you know you'll find out at the end. If the last chapter is missing, you'll
get really frustrated, Jepma said.

Ranganath also thinks that being hungry for knowledge is not always a good feeling. "It's like an itch
that you have to scratch," he said. "It's not really pleasant."