Lecture 8: curiosity across the lifespan Flashcards
Developmental study of curiosity?
Gruber and Fandakova
Children: 10-12 years old
13-15 years old
Used the trivia paradigm w/ faces to encode
Gruber and Fandakova study results (curiosity and interest)
- High curiosity in both age groups: positive benefit on memory
- When children rated an answer as interesting there was no significant memory benefit for the 10-12 year olds but there WAS for the 13-15 year olds
AND the older they get the stronger the memory benefit for interest was
What did Gruber and Fadakova find in relation to information prediction errors?
+ve prediction error: more interesting than they expected
-ve prediction error: less interesting than they expected
younger age groups did not have any memory benefit relating to IPE
Older children: additional benefit from a +ve IPE
What could the underlying mechanisms be in relation to differing impact of curiosity throughout the ages?
We do not know: not enough research to be sure
- where does the info sit with prior knowledge? Maybe something to do with the schemas: memory if better when info is with prior schemas: children= less schemas
- Younger children do not have the cognitive capacities to do anything with the information
- May be motivated more by extrinsic than intrinsic reward
What study was done to look at curiosity on older adults?
Galli et al
Healthy older adults vs younger adults
Trivia paradigm
They reported a main effect of curiosity on memory in BOTH age groups
What study was done to look at post answer interest in younger and older adults?
McGillivray et al
Tested ppts immediately after encoding vs a delay (24 hours)
Found that post answer interest had a significant impact on memory in both groups; when adjusted for post answer interest, curiosity did not have an impact
Example of a post answer interest question
For example: What product is second, only to oil, in terms of the largest trade volumes in the world? Participants may not feel initial curiosity about wanting to know the answer. Once the answer (coffee) is provided, participants may feel some post-answer interest (e.g., an avid coffee drinker may report higher post-answer interest)
How does curiosity affect incidental learning (younger children?)
Fanakova and Gruber: They found a weak but significant correlation with incidental learning and curiosity (more curious, better learned faces)
How does curiosity affect incidental learning (healthy older adults)?
1 study: curiosity enhances memory for incidental faces
2 study: Curiosity did not enhance memory of incidentally learned faces
What is the evidence suggesting curiosity has an impact on information differentially throughout the lifespan?
- Fandakova and Gruber: High curiosity benefits all younger age groups:
- but IPE only has sig impact on older children
-Galli and McGilivray studies: curiosity has a significant impact on learning
- incidental learning: 1 yes, 1 no
Why are there differing results reported about incidental learning across the ages?
- Trivia paradigm: asking the question about whether they are curious or not = SR
- people norm themselves, individuals who are generally curious people may rate themselves as being not curious relative to other things however they may still be intrinsically more curious than someone who is generally not curious at all - unclear results - Incidental learning of faces: would be interesting to do in a more naturalistic way
E.g show ppts a clip of something they report to be curious about - get ppts to recognise faces from the clip and see if curiosity had an impact?
What unpublished study talks about the impact of intrinsic functional connections?
Gruber et al
Used fMRI to investigate whether the functional connections between brain areas are important for 1. curiosity (nACC and VTA) and 2. information prediction errors (ACC and hippocampus) predicted the curiosity benefit
Unpublished Gruber et al results (CURIOSITY)
- Curiosity
Functional connectivity between the NACC and the VTA was significantly correlated with the curiosity benefit on memory enhancement
Functional connectivity between the NACC and the VTA was NOT correlated with the IPE memory enhancement
Unpublished Gruber et al results (IPE)
Functional connectivity between the (left and right) hippocampus and the ACC was significantly correlated with the impact of the IPE on memory enhancement
Functional connectivity between the hippocampus and the ACC was not correlated with the curiosity benefit on memory enhancement
Conclusions from Gruber et al results:
Areas related to the dopaminergic circuit (NAcc and the VTA) do not impact the effect of prediction errors but it is the hippocampus and the ACC: perhaps these areas in children develop later
We know that the dopaminergic circuit in children develops early so this is why the younger children have the memory benefit for curiosity but not IPE?
