The DOI matches its Crossref record; 50 of the 51 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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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Humans use a dual policy to improve inferences during epistemic information seekingPreprint
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More time and effort, same curiosity: Expected effort does not impact curiosityPreprint
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Timing of reward cues alters the interaction between reward and interest on memory over time
Hu, Z., & Yang, J. (2025) · npj Science of Learning · doi:10.1038/s41539-025-00374-7
A model-centered introduction to curiosityPreprint
Chartouny, A., Girard, B., & Khamassi, M. (2025) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2025.11.19.689250 · Cited by 1
“Finally, the hippocampus has been more activated in curious trials than non-curious trials, supporting the role of curiosity in learning and memory formation [7, 17].”
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“Enhanced activation in fusiform gyrus during high-curiosity learning has also been observed in adults, reflecting heightened perceptual processing that supports memory encoding (Kang et al., 2009).”
InfluentialNasreen, V., & Sam, T. J. (2025) · i-manager’s Journal on Educational Psychology · doi:10.26634/jpsy.19.2.21970
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Using QR codes to access food information: A behavioural study with European consumersPreprint
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Curiosity in Later Life: Identifying Psychosocial Predictors Using Random Forest Modeling
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“These results are consistent with previous studies on how epistemic characteristics shape cognitive dispositions (Kang et al., 2009).”
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Mnemonic benefits of state curiosity–A meta-analysis
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“Kang et al. (2009) showed that participants during high curiosity state were willing to spend resources (tokens or time) in return of epistemic information.”
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Role of the striatum in counterfactual information seeking
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“…is associated with the dopaminergic system in the brain, including the striatum, the substantia nigra (SN), and the ventral tegmental area (VTA; Kang et al. 2009, Gruber et al. 2014, Gruber and Ranganath 2019, Lau et al. 2020, Oosterwijk et al. 2020)—brain regions typically associated with…”
Adaptive Personalization of Pedagogical Sequences using Machine Learning
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Du don au partage, étude expérimentale en société Kanak.
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“Work in psychology and HCI shows that framing influences motivation [10], one such way is when suggestions introduce ambiguity or unresolved information that triggers curiosity [15, 16].”
Ke, Z., Meng, X., Xu, J., & Mustafa, M. (2026) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0347418
“This distinction is consistent with empirical oper-ationalisations of curiosity in visual and digital media research, where epistemic curiosity is typically captured through information-seeking intentions rather than affective liking [66–68].”
Ganuthula, V. R. R., & Kumari, N. (2026) · Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies · doi:10.1155/hbe2/6725387
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Iki, S., Iwaoki, H., Hattori, Y., & Adachi, I. (2026) · iScience · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2026.115820
“11,12 For instance, human adults report the highest levels of epistemic curiosity in response to trivia questions associated with intermediate levels of uncertainty.”
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Learning reinforces curiosity for related information
Abir, Y., Mok, J., Baldassano, C. A., Marvin, C. B., & Daphna Shohamy, A. (2026) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2529176123
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Grantham, M. D. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6535759
Li, R., Fu, W., Yuqian, L., Zhao, Y., & Peng, P. (2026) · Cognitive Processing · doi:10.1007/s10339-026-01348-2
“CC is closely linked to individual learning (Kang et al. 2009), as a key factor in the learning process that influences the exploration of new knowledge in OCL (Litman and Spielberger 2003).”
Isac, M. C. (2026) · Educatia 21 · doi:10.24193/ed21.2026.33.02
“Thus, positive emotional states of interest, admiration, “epistemic curiosity” optimize attentional orientation and increase the student’s ability to follow complex biological explanations, such as metabolic fluxes or immunological mechanisms (Gruber & Ranganath, 2019; Kang et al., 2009).”
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Curiosity and evidence quality affect information seeking and eye movements during reading
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“Such forms of assistance not only help alleviate learners’ anxiety toward reading in English, but also stimulate their curiosity about reading materials, potentially enhancing their motivation to learn the language [7], [8].”
The role of critical thinking and media literacy in enhancing fake news detection among students
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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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