Learners are more engaged when curious. They are less likely to mind wander; and they are more likely to seek answers, to be attentive and ready to learn, and they actually learn better as evidenced through both brain and behavioral outcomes. However, little is known about either the neural basis of curiosity, or ways to induce it. This project proposes that curiosity is a metacognitive state consisting of feelings that people almost know the answer to the object of curiosity. This project proposes a series of experiments that investigate both cognitive/behavioral and brain responses. It tests the novel hypothesis that curiosity can be induced by manipulations that alter metacognitive processes, with favorable consequences for learning. Understanding the scientific basis of curiosity will have broad practical and educational implications for increasing students' learning and their desire to learn.
Past work on curiosity is largely correlational, and often confounds a priori knowledge with feelings of curiosity. In contrast, the experiments in this project induce curiosity via manipulations that alter metacognitive states. Behavioral and electrophysiological experiments, will investigate the impact of curiosity on attention and learning. In these experiments, participants will be exposed to computer-controlled learning scenarios where curiosity is manipulated via priming, fluency, multitasking, divided attention or inhibitory retrieval cuing. Dependent variables include reaction and study times, recall scores, and event-related potentials, as well as ratings of curiosity, confidence, and mind wandering. Curiosity will be manipulated using methods known to influence metacognitive processes. The electrophysiological studies investigating neural processes will allow use of mediational models to evaluate the role of distinct behavioral and brain components related to curiosity. These experiments will disentangle learning attributable to a priori knowledge versus those attributable to curiosity states. This project will help us to understand foundational neural and behavioral processes underlying curiosity-related learning and reward in learning, and the role of metacognition. There is potential to develop practical methods for systematically inducing curiosity which can be applied to classroom and other settings to enhance learning.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
