Curiosity Flashcards
- define epistemic curiosity according to information gap theory
- describe curious behaviour
- explain the origins of curiosity
- explain why individuals can differ in epistemic curiosity (from a bioecological systems perspective)
- paraphrase the methods and the results from the experiment by Fandakova and Gruber (2021) who investigated the importance of state-curiosity for memory
- explain how the environment can stimulate and support an individual’s curiosity
OK
2 types of curiosity:
- perceptual curiosity (curiosity for something that “senses” (looks/sounds/feels/smells/etc) new, complex, different)
- epistemic curiosity (curiosity for knowledge)
information gap theory =
Epistemic curiosity is the desire to gain knowledge; to seek and learn new information by exploring novel or uncertain environments.
2 types of epistemic curiosity:
- interest curiosity: enjoys learning something new, can also be gossip etc
- deprivation curiosity: feel dissatisfied when a problem is not solved, one feels uncertain
domains for epistemic curiosity:
- domain general: curious no matter the topic
- domain specific: curiosity for a certain topic and not for other
distinction of epistemic curiosity
- state: in the moment
- trait: enduring
what is curiosity? (4 kenmerken)
- heightened attention (in children of all ages)
- explore and seeking out new experiences, react positively to new and strange things (ppl of all ages)
- ask questions (verbal children)
- older children (10+) ask questions, prefer complex objects or abstract ideas (why do we have money?)
evolutionary value of curiosity
- children are motivated to move (train muscles, skills)
- children train their senses whilst exploring
- children train language when asking questions
- search for knowledge increases knowledge base
what happens when ppl are shown a blurry image vs. a clear image
brain regions associated with aversion are activated (we do not like that). -> ACC, AIC (uncertainty).
when we are shown a clear image: regions associated with rewards are activated, and memory areas as well -> striatum, hippocampus
a theory on knowledge acquisition (Murayama et al., 2019)
extraneous factors (random encounters, environmental structure) -> awareness of a knowledge gap + moderators + expected reward value of new information -> information seeking behaviour -> acquisition of knowledge -> knowledge-base + rewardng experience -> expected reward value etc…
reward value of information is central
people are motivated to search for information because new information feels rewarding, even though the knowledge gap causes uncertainty. the more surprising the information is, the more rewarding it is. learning that knowledge seeking is rewarding can turn an incidental search (a state) into a habit (a trait). this is the development of a curious nature
effect van moderators
veranderen de relatie tussen twee andere variablen
moderators for information seeking behaviour
- expectancy beliefs
- perceived costs
- personality traits
- emotional valence
characteristics of the child that can act as moderators
- effort it takes to obtain and understand info
- is the topic considered important or interesting?
- knowledge (more knowledge is more questions)
- uncertainty preference (whether one can stand the uncertainty that goes with the gap or not)
- self-belief (do they expect to find the information or not?)
- growth mindset
moderators in the environment
- environment must trigger information gaps of the right difficulties
- environment must allow knowledge seeking (freedom to manipulate, to explore, the right materials)
- environment must reward the information seeking (responsive adults, right level of knowledge)
bioecological systems theory
microsystem:
parents, books, technology, classroom activities, peers, teachers
macrosystem:
societal attitudes, culture, economy, educational policies
- Child is in the center of many contexts: from micro (e.g., parents) to macro (e.g., economy)
- Child changes, contexts change as well
- Interaction: Child and contexts influence each other, reciprocally (curious child seeks books - books affect child’s knowledge)
consequenties van school op curiosity
- Children learn to regulate behaviour (not always appropriate to ask questions)
- Children learn about risks (not always safe to explore)
- Formal learning in school may take away time from exploring other topics
- Children often assume they can’t question the teacher’s answer (Post & Walma van der Molen, 2018)
- Some teachers feel uncomfortable raising curiosity as children may ask questions they can’t answer
(maar lastig om developmental changes in curiosity te meten: dan zouden we een groep kinderen niet naar school moeten sturen)
curiosity is often considered the engine for learning, but….
we dont actually know whether this is true (research gap!)
curious state in body:
- heightened attention
- deep processing of information
kijken naar document over fandakova, gruber
oke
4 phases van studie
- Screening: First, participants rated their curiosity about a series of trivia questions.
- Study: Subsequently, participants anticipated and encoded the correct answer. During the anticipation phase, participants encoded an incidental face image to investigate potential memory enhancements for incidental information encountered during high-curiosity states. Following the presentation of the answer, participants rated their subjective interest in the answer.
- Recognition: Memory for the faces presented during anticipation was tested after a 20 min delay.
- Recall: followed by a cued-recall test of the answers to the trivia questions.
variables in experiment
Variables in experiment: curiosity for trivia, interestingness of answer, unexpectedness of answer (IPE: interesting – curiosity), age (child vs. adolescent) -> recognition memory (faces) and recall of trivia facts
predictions of study
a) “The more curious, the better the memory, also for incidental information”
b) “The more interesting the information, the better the memory for this information”
c) “The more unexpected the information, the better the memory, especially for adolescents”
conclusies van exp
- Children’s and adolescents’ memory is higher for information that they are curious about than for information they are not curious about
- Children and adolescents do not remember
incidental information better when they are in a “curious state” than when they are not - For adolescents, it is also important that the information is interesting and unexpected
- Curiosity is important in learning
- From childhood to older adulthood: curiosity enhances memory
- Mechanism that explains why curiosity enhances memory still unknown.
- There is a connection between “what you know”, “what you want to know”, and “memory performance”
- But the result on unrelated information is hard to replicate
oke
advantages of epistemic curiosity
- knowledge acquisition
- academic success
- memory
- positive learning attitudes
how can adults stimulate childrens curiosity?
- Trigger uncertainty to start the “uncertainty-curiosity-learning”-chain (Lamnina & Chase, 2019)
– Materials that stimulate curiosity
– Peer discussions - Allow curiosity:
– Promote question-asking
– Model curiosity - Prepare for / help with feelings of uncertainty: unpleasant but necessary for curiosity
examples of materials for stimulating curiosity
- Opportunity to manipulate, to explore
- Unexpected things can happen
- Allows phantasy
Stimulating curiosity can be complex….
- Individual differences: The curious child can suffer from an unchallenging context and benefit a lot from a challenging environment. Some children depend less on context.
- Don’t wait too long to offer the information that removes uncertainty, because by then curiosity will have subsided
- Information must be a bit surprising, not too much: “just right”
