‘Curiosity is one of the most important drivers for learning and many other things we do,’ says Van Lieshout. During her PhD, she already researched what makes people curious. ‘The more uncertain something is, the more curious people are. Generally, people want to get as clear a picture of the world as possible and know where they stand. And to do that in the best way possible, you actually have to be curious.’
Expectations also play a role. ‘If you expect positive news, for example that you have passed an exam, you want to know what your grade was. But if you think you have failed, you will avoid the news. The more positive the news, the more curious people are.’ Curiosity activates the same reward system in our brain that is also activated when you receive money, for example. That system makes connections with the hippocampus, which is responsible for our memory. Those connections seem to become stronger when you are curious and actually remember something.
How to maintain curiosity?
With the Veni grant, Van Lieshout goes a step further by not investigating what makes us curious, but how we can ensure that people remain curious. She will investigate this with three studies:
The first study uses a trivia task. ‘Imagine: I ask the question, what is the most stolen book in the world? It's the Bible. And often people then want to know: why the Bible? In my task, participants sometimes get the chance to obtain that information, sometimes they don't. I look at whether that extra information maintains curiosity and whether it helps people remember it better.’
In a second study, she examines the role of freedom of choice. ‘I want to investigate autonomy in combination with curiosity. Is it important that people can decide for themselves what they want to know more about? That seems logical, but it has hardly been researched yet.’
The third study takes place in the MRI scanner. ‘There, I want to see whether the connections in the brain become stronger when you are curious for a long time and receive additional information. Can we see that the reward system and the hippocampus are working together more?’
Relevance for education
The fundamental knowledge that Van Lieshout is gaining could have an impact on education. ‘Everyone knows that the things that really sparked your interest and curiosity are the things that stick with you. Those are the things you carry with you throughout your life.’
She will collaborate with publishers of teaching materials for this purpose as well: ‘They are working on curiosity, for example by teaching children English through song lyrics and karaoke. We have good connections and they like to talk to us to get inspiration.’
Her motivation is clear: ‘Curiosity is a very important driver for learning. This fascinates me, and I am very happy that this Veni grant will allow me to further investigate how that works and how we can nurture curiosity during learning.’
