As learning designers, we often attempt to spark curiosity in the audience. The purpose is to drive intrinsic motivation, engagement, and deeper learning.
After giving that advice to others, I realized I needed to expand my repertoire of strategies for driving curiosity. I wanted to understand the cognitive science of curiosity better because I was, well, curious.
The Science of Curiosity
Curiosity Defined
It won’t surprise you that there are many definitions of curiosity. From a cognitive science perspective, it refers to a motivational state or a drive to acquire new information, resolve uncertainty, close knowledge gaps, or explore novel stimuli. The observable behaviors of curiosity may manifest as heightened attention, thoughtful analysis, and persistent engagement (Silvia, 2005).
It is theorized that the purpose of curiosity is that gathering information provides better choices and more effective comparisons. “Acquiring information … is the primary evolutionary purpose of the sense organs, and has been a major driver of evolution for hundreds of millions of years” (Kidd & Hayden, 2015).
Curiosity Drives Information Seeking
Curiosity drives an individual’s desire to understand and acquire new concepts and skills and fosters an environment conducive to continuous learning and innovation. Information-seeking is a crucial driver of adult learning.
Curiosity Drives Organizational Socialization
Reio & Wiswell (2000) found that curiosity is important in enhancing organizational socialization. Curiosity motivates new employees to actively gather information to learn their jobs and adapt to new conditions. It encourages new hires to acquire information to resolve uncertainties and master the technical and interpersonal skills required for their positions.
They also found that curiosity drives socialization-related learning for experienced employees during periods of change, such as when they switch departments, get promoted, or learn new tasks.
Curiosity Enhances Retention
From a neuroscience perspective, Gruber, Gelman & Ranganath (2014) found that high levels of curiosity were associated with increased activity in the hippocampus, which is crucial for forming new memories. The study shows that people remember information better when driven by curiosity. Memory for incidental information presented during states of high curiosity is also enhanced. (Note that the memory assessments took place immediately and after a one-day delay).
Resolving Curiosity is Rewarding
The brain’s reward pathways are most likely engaged when curiosity is a driver, which enhances motivation and information retention. The relief of curiosity activates reward-related regions, suggesting that resolving curiosity is inherently rewarding. A classic psychological theory of curiosity states that curiosity is an aversive condition of increased arousal whose termination is rewarding and facilitates memory (Jepma et al., 2006).
Lots of Strategies for Sparking Curiosity
Even if there are many unknowns and debates about what drives curiosity, we can still benefit from the decades of research devoted to the phenomenon. Here are four research-backed ways to spark curiosity in adult learning with several strategies for each approach. The strategies can be modified to work with a variety of learning formats.
1. Introduce Knowledge Gaps, But Provide a Little Information
RESEARCH
Lowenstein (1994) developed the information gap theory, which holds that curiosity arises when people become aware of uncertainty or missing information. This state generates cognitive tension, driving individuals to seek the necessary information to resolve the gap.
Research from Kang (2009) demonstrates how curiosity peaks at intermediate levels of confidence in knowing an answer. When posed with a trivia question, participants were least curious when they either had no idea of the answer or if they were highly confident of the answer. On the other hand, they were most curious when they had some idea about the answer, but little confidence.
STRATEGIES AND EXAMPLES
- Strategy: Spark curiosity by highlighting what learners do not know. Use this to trigger intrinsic motivation, but provide portions of the answer to increase confidence.
Example: “Most people think they have a good handle on their finances, but did you know that most people in this country retire with less than $10,000 in savings?” - Strategy: Create small challenges where learners must actively seek missing pieces of information.
Example: “A customer reports that the SyncNow feature is not working as expected. They say their files are not syncing correctly, and they are getting error messages. Help the customer resolve this issue. What will you ask first?” - Strategy: Before a course begins, have learners rate their confidence in specific topics using confidence scales. Tailor the course content to target intermediate confidence levels, where curiosity peaks. In self-paced learning, match learners with the most suitable content based on their confidence assessments.
Example question: “I know how to respond to a data breach incident.”
Confidence Scale:
1) Not at all confident 2) Slightly confident 3) Moderately confident 4) Very confident 5) Extremely confident
2. Leverage Prediction Errors
RESEARCH
Prior knowledge helps people make predictions about the environment and events. Prediction errors occur when a person has little previous knowledge or when there is a discrepancy between what a person expects to happen and what occurs. The disparity generates a prediction error, a signal in the brain that something unexpected has occurred. Prediction errors motivate a person to seek out information to resolve the uncertainty.
STRATEGIES AND EXAMPLES
- Strategy: Prediction-error theory highlights the role of surprise and unexpected outcomes. Therefore, present surprising or counterintuitive facts or scenarios to challenge participants’ existing knowledge.
Example: “In your last negotiation, did you focus on finding common ground and building rapport? While that seems like a good idea, research indicates that negotiators who focus primarily on common ground are actually less likely to reach a successful agreement. What hidden factors might explain this unexpected result?” - Strategy: Start with foundation concepts and progressively introduce complexities that can create prediction errors as learners encounter new challenges (scaffolding).
Example: A course on financial modeling, starts with building a simple three-year revenue forecast for a company. As participants progress, introduce seasonality, where the company’s revenue fluctuates. Learners must create a new forecast that takes seasonality into account. - Strategy: Help learners process prediction errors by initiating reflection activities like journaling and discussion groups.
Example: Learners in an Agile methodologies course participate in a simulation where they plan and predict the amount of work they can get done in a sprint using Scrum. When participants inevitably under or over estimate, they are asked to reflect on their prediction error. - Strategy: Present case studies that include unexpected outcomes, prompting learners to analyze and resolve the discrepancies.
Example: Present a case study about Company ABC that seemed to be doing everything right to foster engagement. They had excellent policies, programs, and culture. Learners are asked to predict the engagement level at Company ABC. Then reveal that despite all its efforts, Company ABC was experiencing high employee turnover rates and a decline in productivity and innovation. Learners are asked to resolve the discrepancy. - Strategy: Present learners with an unexpected final result and ask them to predict the factors that led to the surprising outcome. Then reveal the actual causal factors.
Example: In business training, an example would be the failure of Google Glass. In product design, an example would be Amazon’s Fire Phone.
3. Focus on High-Interest Skills
RESEARCH
One meta-analysis examining the similarities and differences between curiosity and interest suggests that curiosity and interest are related but distinct constructs. Curiosity is potentially a specific type of interest focused on knowledge acquisition, whereas interest is a more general, ongoing information search. According to the researchers, “When feelings of curiosity occurred, it was likely that feelings of interest were co-occurring, whereas feelings of interest did not always accompany feelings of curiosity” (Qiu et al., 2023).
On a related theme, Hidi and Reninger (2014) found that content aligned with personal interests improves and sustains attention and effort, which can lead to deeper engagement and learning. Also, interest can spark curiosity by presenting something novel or posing a question that the learner wants to explore.
STRATEGIES AND EXAMPLES
- Strategy: Identify employee interests, career goals, and areas where they feel they need more training. Gather this data from detailed surveys, focus groups, conversations, and internal forums. Use LMS data to determine which optional training modules, resources, or projects employees take.
Examples: Invite small groups of employees to participate in facilitated discussions about their leadership aspirations, challenges, and learning needs. Or analyze which optional courses have the highest participation. Design paths based on interests and career aspirations that employees can pursue. - Strategy: Foster a culture that values continuous learning and development. Encourage management to support learning initiatives and make it a part of performance reviews and career development plans.
Examples: In an ideal world, senior leaders will communicate and demonstrate the importance of continuous learning. What can L&D do? 1) Try to implement a “learning hour” every week that’s devoted to professional development. 2) Launch a monthly high-interest learning series during lunch hour. 3) Recognize employees who partake in professional development opportunities. 4) Encourage management to integrate learning into performance reviews. 5) Provide employees with short, focused bursts of learning content. - Strategy: Facilitate group discussions or collaborative projects for those whose interest levels are enhanced from social interaction. Share different perspectives and insights to lead to deeper exploration of topics.
Examples: 1) Run an improv comedy class for sales professionals to enhance public speaking skills and quick thinking. 2) In a certification course on sustainability, host webinars where participants can discuss materials and tools. Use curiosity-driven questions, such as, “If you had to build a completely sustainable home using only locally sourced materials, what challenges would you face, and what creative solutions could you come up with?” - Strategy: Encourage self-directed learning paths. Employees work with their managers to create personalized development plans that align with their interests and the company’s mission.
Examples: Data visualization courses for digital artists that combine business analytics and design to create better reports and dashboards. Communication courses for people who are interested in writing and speaking to improve client communications.
4. Use the ‘Desirable Difficulty’ Principle
RESEARCH
Desirable difficulties are learning experiences that require reflective effort, making them challenging in the short term but beneficial for long-term learning and performance. Research suggests that desirable difficulties can effectively drive curiosity and enhance learning outcomes in adult learners.
When properly applied, desirable difficulties can create a learning environment that stimulates curiosity and leads to more effective, long-lasting learning in adult learners.
STRATEGIES
- Strategy: Create assessments that reward exploration rather than just correctness.
Example: “Using the provided dataset of customer purchases, choose a strategy that can help the company improve customer retention and increase sales. Then justify your reasoning.” - Strategy: Vary practice conditions by changing the learning environment or context to prevent learners from becoming too comfortable.
Example: In emergency medicine training, doctors are given a patient scenario that takes place in a rural emergency room with limited resources. The next patient scenario takes place in an urban hospital that is overwhelmed with patients due to a mass casualty event. The doctors must triage and prioritize care. - Strategy: Generation tasks: Ask learners to produce information or solve problems before providing full instruction.
Example (before any instruction): “You’re a manager tasked with telling your team the company has had to make budget cuts and bonuses will be significantly reduced this year. Write an email with this news while trying to minimize negative impact and maintain team morale.” - Strategy: Interleaving: Mix different topics or types of problems together instead of grouping similar content.
Example: In a digital marketing certification course, interleave content from social media marketing, SEO, and email marketing throughout the course. Provide tasks that require participants to apply knowledge from different areas of digital marketing.
Conclusion
Fostering curiosity is not just about making content interesting; it’s about shaping learning experiences that drive exploration and encourage deeper and more meaningful learning outcomes and personal growth. By integrating these research-backed strategies, we can ensure that curiosity remains a key component of workplace learning and professional development.
REFERENCES:
- Gruber, M. J., Gelman, B. D., & Ranganath, C. (2014). States of curiosity modulate hippocampus-dependent learning via the dopaminergic circuit. Neuron, 84(2), 486-496.
- Jepma, M., Verdonschot, R., Van Steenbergen, H., Rombouts, S., & Nieuwenhuis, S. (2012). Neural mechanisms underlying the induction and relief of perceptual curiosity. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00005.
- Kang, M. J., Hsu, M., Krajbich, I. M., Loewenstein, G., McClure, S. M., Wang, J. T., & Camerer, C. F. (2009). The wick in the candle of learning: Epistemic curiosity activates reward circuitry and enhances memory. Psychological Science, 20(8), 963-973. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02402.
- Kidd, C., & Hayden, B. Y. (2015). The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity. Neuron, 88(3), 449-460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.09.010.
- Loewenstein, G. (1994). The psychology of curiosity: A review and reinterpretation. Psychological Bulletin, 116(1), 75–98. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.75
- Qiu, F. W., Renninger, K. A., & Hidi, S. E. (2023). Curiosity and interest: What should educators know and consider? International Encyclopedia of Education (4th ed.).
- Reio Jr., T. G., & Wiswell, A. (2000). Field investigation of the relationship among adult curiosity, workplace learning, and job performance. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 11(1), Spring.
- Silvia, P. J. (2005). What is interesting? Exploring the appraisal structure of interest. Emotion, 5(1), 89–102. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.5.1.89
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