Curiosity

Question 1

• 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

Answer 1

OK

Question 2

2 types of curiosity:

Answer 2

1. perceptual curiosity (curiosity for something that “senses” (looks/sounds/feels/smells/etc) new, complex, different)
2. epistemic curiosity (curiosity for knowledge)

Question 3

information gap theory =

Answer 3

Epistemic curiosity is the desire to gain knowledge; to seek and learn new information by exploring novel or uncertain environments.

Question 4

2 types of epistemic curiosity:

Answer 4

1. interest curiosity: enjoys learning something new, can also be gossip etc
2. deprivation curiosity: feel dissatisfied when a problem is not solved, one feels uncertain

Question 5

domains for epistemic curiosity:

Answer 5

1. domain general: curious no matter the topic
2. domain specific: curiosity for a certain topic and not for other

Question 6

distinction of epistemic curiosity

Answer 6

1. state: in the moment
2. trait: enduring

Question 7

what is curiosity? (4 kenmerken)

Answer 7

1. heightened attention (in children of all ages)
2. explore and seeking out new experiences, react positively to new and strange things (ppl of all ages)
3. ask questions (verbal children)
4. older children (10+) ask questions, prefer complex objects or abstract ideas (why do we have money?)

Question 8

evolutionary value of curiosity

Answer 8

1. children are motivated to move (train muscles, skills)
2. children train their senses whilst exploring
3. children train language when asking questions
4. search for knowledge increases knowledge base

Question 9

what happens when ppl are shown a blurry image vs. a clear image

Answer 9

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

Question 10

a theory on knowledge acquisition (Murayama et al., 2019)

Answer 10

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…

Question 11

reward value of information is central

Answer 11

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

Question 12

effect van moderators

Answer 12

veranderen de relatie tussen twee andere variablen

Question 13

moderators for information seeking behaviour

Answer 13

• expectancy beliefs
• perceived costs
• personality traits
• emotional valence

Question 14

characteristics of the child that can act as moderators

Answer 14

• 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

Question 15

moderators in the environment

Answer 15

• 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)

Question 16

bioecological systems theory

Answer 16

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)

Question 17

consequenties van school op curiosity

Answer 17

• 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)

Question 18

curiosity is often considered the engine for learning, but….

Answer 18

we dont actually know whether this is true (research gap!)

Question 19

curious state in body:

Answer 19

• heightened attention
• deep processing of information

Question 20

kijken naar document over fandakova, gruber

Answer 20

oke

Question 21

4 phases van studie

Answer 21

1. Screening: First, participants rated their curiosity about a series of trivia questions.
2. 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.
3. Recognition: Memory for the faces presented during anticipation was tested after a 20 min delay.
4. Recall: followed by a cued-recall test of the answers to the trivia questions.

Question 22

variables in experiment

Answer 22

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

Question 23

predictions of study

Answer 23

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”

Question 24

conclusies van exp

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

• 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

Answer 25

oke

Question 26

advantages of epistemic curiosity

Answer 26

1. knowledge acquisition
2. academic success
3. memory
4. positive learning attitudes

Question 27

how can adults stimulate childrens curiosity?

Answer 27

1. Trigger uncertainty to start the “uncertainty-curiosity-learning”-chain (Lamnina & Chase, 2019)
   – Materials that stimulate curiosity
   – Peer discussions
2. Allow curiosity:
   – Promote question-asking
   – Model curiosity
3. Prepare for / help with feelings of uncertainty: unpleasant but necessary for curiosity

Question 28

examples of materials for stimulating curiosity

Answer 28

• Opportunity to manipulate, to explore
• Unexpected things can happen
• Allows phantasy

Question 29

Stimulating curiosity can be complex….

Answer 29

1. 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.
2. Don’t wait too long to offer the information that removes uncertainty, because by then curiosity will have subsided
3. Information must be a bit surprising, not too much: “just right”