Curiosity
Humanity owes a lot to curiosity; thanks to it, man was able to become a scientist or researcher, since curiosity is what leads our minds to ask questions and to be interested in knowing the “why” of things. Curiosity is a state of active interest that genuinely makes you want to know more about something. Curiosity leads us through unfamiliar circumstances, thus allowing us to experience discovery, learning, retaining information, and the joy of existing since we understand beyond the “why we are here” and “what for.”
Now, have you thought about what happens to our brain when we are curious?
Researchers at the University of California in the United States did a series of experiments to determine what exactly happens in the brain when we are curious. The researchers tested participants on how curious they were to know the answers to more than 100 trivial questions, such as "Which Beatles song was on the charts the longest?" Or "What does it really mean? The term "dinosaur." At certain times throughout the study, MRI scans were performed to see what was going on in the participants' brains when they were curious to know the answer to a question.
You might be wondering, what did these experiments reveal? Here are two of the most important findings:
Curiosity prepares the brain for learning
Curiosity makes future learning more rewarding
Interesting, right? You see, curiosity can make our brains learn and retain what we have learned because we have stimulated a part of our brain that makes us store and easily recall our memories. The region crucial for forming, retaining, and recalling declarative memories is called the hippocampus. That is why when we are not curious about every answer, we are more likely to not retain any information that was told to us.
However, if we pursue that curiosity, we will be rewarded in retaining more and more information. Perhaps, when we are curious we will notice that being curious brings us:
Intelligence, and the process of learning: curiosity is the engine of intellectual achievement. Some studies show that people who are more curious about a topic tend to learn faster. According to psychologist George Loewenstein, curiosity is not only a state of mind; it is also an emotion that pushes us to fill the gaps in our knowledge.
Social relations: curiosity is something we always value in our friends. If they are curious about our life, then it means that they will show more empathy. Also, they will give us advice and make our life more fun. A study conducted by the University at Buffalo revealed that the degree to which people are curious is directly related to personal growth opportunities.
Happiness and meaning: a study showed that those who are more curious find more meaning and have a more satisfying life. You see, a curious person's life is far from boring. There are always new ideas and worlds to explore, which opens up possibilities for what is not ordinarily visible.
For brain health: some research has revealed that being open to new experiences keeps the brain active and alert, which is immensely helpful as you age. The mind is like a muscle, it gets stronger with exercise, and the best activity for the brain is curiosity.
Let's motivate our curiosity; not everything that we see, experience in life, is solved. Perhaps not everything is already done or made up for us; let's keep our curiosity at a high level so we will answer questions that no one has ever even asked before.