What Makes Us Curious?

Einstein once declared that he had no special talents, only he was passionately curious. What makes us want to know about things we don’t understand? The urge may be primal, scientists say. Recent studies reveal that our brains associate new knowledge with positive emotion, says Jonah Lehrer at Wired’s Frontal Cortext blog. The scientists behind the study say: “The fact that curiosity increases with uncertainty (up to a point), suggests that a small amount of knowledge can pique curiosity and prime the hunger for knowledge, much as an olfactory or visual stimulus can prime a hunger for food, which might suggest ways for educators to ignite the wick in the candle of learning.”