The more curious we are about a topic, the easier it is to remember not only information about that topic, but also other unrelated information shown at the same time. A study published today in Neuron shows what happens inside our brains when our curiosity is sparked.
Participants in the study were asked to rate how curious they were to find out the answer to a specific trivia question, such as: “What does the term ‘dinosaur’ actually mean?”
The participants were then placed in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine that measures brain activity, based on changes in blood flow when the brain is performing certain tasks.
The participants saw the trivia question again followed by the image of a person’s face and were asked to make a specific decision about the person. Finally, they were shown the answer to the trivia question, in the dinosaur case “terrible lizard”.
After the MRI scan the participants completed a surprise test on the answers to the trivia questions and also on their ability to recognise the faces shown during the scan.
