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The Wick in the Candle of Learning: Epistemic Curiosity Activates Reward Circuitry and Enhances Memory
Abstract
Curiosity has been described as a desire for learning and knowledge, but its underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We scanned subjects with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they read trivia questions. The level of curiosity when reading questions was correlated with activity in caudate regions previously suggested to be involved in anticipated reward. This finding led to a behavioral study, which showed that subjects spent more scarce resources (either limited tokens or waiting time) to find out answers when they were more curious. The functional imaging also showed that curiosity increased activity in memory areas when subjects guessed incorrectly, which suggests that curiosity may enhance memory for surprising new information. This prediction about memory enhancement was confirmed in a behavioral study: Higher curiosity in an initial session was correlated with better recall of surprising answers 1 to 2 weeks later.
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“M. J. Kang, Hsu, Krajbich, Loewenstein, McClure, Wang, and Camerer (2009) found that the higher participants rated their curiosity about a question answered incorrectly, the more likely they were to recall the correct answer on a surprise test two weeks later.”
From The benefit of generating errors during learning (2014) · cites this paper as M. J. Kang, Hsu, Krajbich, Loewenstein, McClure, Wang, and Camerer (2009)
In the citing paper
“Curiosity has been shown to follow an inverted-U-shaped function of confidence in the prediction (e.g., Kang et al., 2009).”
From Predicting as a learning strategy (2021) · cites this paper as Kang et al., 2009
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InfluentialSelf-citationAnticipation of Increasing Monetary Reward Selectively Recruits Nucleus Accumbens
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“The potential for information gaps and ambiguity to increase curiosity gains support from the replicated finding we observed (e.g., Kang et al., 2009) indicating that confidence shows an inverted u-shaped association with curiosity, such that curiosity for trivia is highest at intermediate levels…”
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“Specifically, Kang et al. (2009) used magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 19 subjects and correlated curiosity with activity in the brain regions shown in Figure 1, concluding that curiosity stems from reward anticipation.”
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“(63) investigated the neural mechanism related to curiosity by examining the relationship between neural activity when participants processed the trivia questions and the degree of curiosity about them.”
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“For example, Kang et al. (2009) explicitly instructed participants to silently guess an answer to every question, perhaps re fl ecting Loewenstein ’ s (1994) observation that guesses provide a direct way to engage curiosity.”
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“[4] illustrate, through experimentation with trivia questions, that curiosity due to information-gaps can elicit an inclination to pay for missing information, such is the power of its influence.”
BackgroundWhen familiarity not novelty motivates information-seeking behaviour
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“Materials included 40 trivia questions and answers from Kang et al. (2009).”
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“A study by [20] showed that regions of the brain linked to memory and learning were activated in those who reported higher levels of curiosity about the correct answers in a trivia task.”
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“Additionally, curiosity may enhance memory for surprising new information in reference to what is already known [13].”
BackgroundMemory Strategically Encodes Externally Unavailable Information.
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PERLOVSKY, L. I., Bonniot‐Cabanac, M., & Cabanac, M. (2010) · arXiv (Cornell University) · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1010.3009 · Cited by 8
“Indeed epistemic curiosity activates reward circuitry and enhances memory [22].”
Curiosity is associated with enhanced tonic firing in dorsal anterior cingulate cortexPreprint
Wang, M. Z., & Hayden, B. Y. (2020) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2020.05.25.115139 · Cited by 7
From Curiosity, to Wonder, to Creativity: a Cognitive Developmental Psychology PerspectivePreprint
Bazhydai, M., & Westermann, G. (2020) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/txze6 · Cited by 7
The magic, memory, and curiosity fMRI dataset of people viewing magic tricks
Meliß, S., Pascua-Martin, C., Skipper, J. I., & Murayama, K. (2024) · Scientific Data · doi:10.1038/s41597-024-03675-5 · Cited by 7
When curiosity gaps backfire: effects of headline concreteness on information selection decisions
Quéré, M. A. L., & Matias, J. N. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-81575-9 · Cited by 5
From curiosity to play: re‐evaluating the evolutionary origins of play
Iki, S. (2025) · Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · doi:10.1111/brv.70009 · Cited by 6
Interventions to reduce vaccine hesitancy among adolescents: a cluster-randomized trial
Baudouin, N., Rouilhan, S. D., Huillery, É., Pasquinelli, E., Chevallier, C., & Mercier, H. (2025) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-025-02306-2 · Cited by 5
Curiosity and surprise differentially affect memory depending on age
Sobczak, A., Steiger, T. K., Mieling, M., & Bunzeck, N. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-14479-x · Cited by 6
“The sample sizes are comparable to previous studies on trait and state curiosity (e.g. Chu and Fung, 2022; Galli et al., 2017; Kang et al., 2009; McGillivray et al., 2015).”
Spousal emotional support and relationship quality buffers pupillary response to horror movies
Graff, T. C., Fitzgerald, J. R., Luke, S. G., & Birmingham, W. C. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0256823 · Cited by 5
Awe increases stimulus-specific curiosity
Sawada, K., & Nomura, M. (2024) · Journal of Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1080/20445911.2024.2356289 · Cited by 6
“Epistemic curiosity – the desire to know and experience new something to resolve a knowledge gap (Litman, 2005; Loewenstein, 1994; Murayama, 2022) – is thought to promote learning (e.g. Kang et al., 2009), creativity (e.g. Zhang et al., 2021), and well-being (e.g. Kashdan et al., 2004).”
Cultural Priming Effects and the Human Brain
Han, S., & Northoff, G. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.011 · Cited by 5
Kirmayer, L. J., Worthman, C. M., & Kitayama, S. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.002 · Cited by 6
Arneklev, B. J. (2023) · Deviant Behavior · doi:10.1080/01639625.2022.2164753 · Cited by 6
“Both concepts can also facilitate success in the more positive dimensions of social life (Gottfredson and Hirschi 2019; Kashdan et al. 2020b) as well as involvement in negative activities, including “exploratory behaviors with harmful consequences” (Kang et al. 2009: 963).”
BackgroundInfluentialMetacognition of curiosity: People underestimate the seductive lure of non-instrumental information
Kim, S., Sakaki, M., & Murayama, K. (2023) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-023-02404-0 · Cited by 6
“Previous literature has suggested that humans and non-human animals are inherently curious (Hayden et al., 2009; Kang et al., 2009; Kidd & Hayden, 2015; Zentall, 2016) – they are motivated to seek seemingly useless information even at the cost of their resources (e.g., delaying the time to obtain…”
Curiosity Satisfaction Increases Event-related Potentials Sensitive to Reward
Rüterbories, T., Mecklinger, A., Eschmann, K. C. J., Crivelli-Decker, J. E., Charan Ranganath, A., & Gruber, M. J. (2024) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn_a_02114 · Cited by 5
“New information satisfies curiosity, reduces uncertainty, can improve predictions in the future, and can be described as an unconditioned reward stimulus (Kang et al., 2009).”
InfluentialSchumacher, A., Kammerer, Y., Scharinger, C., Gottschling, S., Hübner, N., Tibus, M., Kasneci, E., Appel, T., Gerjets, P. H., & Bardach, L. (2025) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1177/08902070241309124 · Cited by 9
“Second, a large body of laboratory studies have investigated whether being curious about the information an individual is processing makes them more likely to re-member it (Fastrich et al., 2018; Kang et al., 2009).”
InfluentialHow Semantic Processing of Words Evokes Changes in Pupil
Pluchino, P., Gamberini, L., Barral, O., & Minelle, F. (2014) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-13500-7_8 · Cited by 5
Ritual and Religion as Social Technologies of Cooperation
Kavanagh, C. M., Jong, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.016 · Cited by 7
Relative risk taking and social curiosity
Celse, J., Karakostas, A., & Zizzo, D. J. (2023) · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2023.04.016 · Cited by 5
Hunaepi, H., Ikhsan, M. J. N., Suwono, H., & Sulisetijono, S. (2021) · Jurnal Penelitian Pendidikan IPA · doi:10.29303/jppipa.v7ispecialissue.1070 · Cited by 5
“(Kang et al., 2009; von Stumm et al., 2011) defines EC as the drive to seek information and eliminate gaps in knowledge which are considered important predispositions for learning complex skills.”
Kuhbandner, C., & Frenzel, A. C. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-55754-9_10 · Cited by 5
Émotions épistémiques et créativité dans la formation enseignante : un duo gagnant ?
Audrin, C., Vuichard, A., & Puozzo, I. C. (2020) · Recherches en éducation · doi:10.4000/ree.575 · Cited by 5
The Cultural Brain as Historical Artifact
Boddice, R. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.018 · Cited by 6
Balgiu, B. A. (2018) · Cited by 5
Some Epistemic Roles for Curiosity
Whitcomb, D. (2018) · Rowman & Littlefield Publishers eBooks · doi:10.5040/9798881816780.ch-11 · Cited by 5
Metadata
- Authors
- Kang, M. J., Hsu, M., Krajbich, I. M., Loewenstein, G., McClure, S. M., Wang, J. T.-Y., & Camerer, C. F.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- Stanford University (US)
- National Taiwan University (TW)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2009-08
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 963-973
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2104225738
- Cited by
- 882
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 74 · 2025: 96 · 2024: 79 · 2023: 80 · 2022: 74 · 2021: 70 · 2020: 114 · 2019: 76 · 2018: 52 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 14.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychological and Educational Research Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Keywords
- curiosity, caudate nucleus, reward anticipation, trivia questions, memory enhancement, surprise, resource allocation, waiting time, token allocation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Arousal, Attention, Brain, Caudate Nucleus, Exploratory Behavior, Female, Frontal Lobe, Globus Pallidus, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Motivation, Oxygen, Putamen, Reading, Mental Recall, Reward, Prefrontal Cortex, Parahippocampal Gyrus, Young Adult
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