A curious side effect of curiosity
What’s the secret to aging well? The answer might start with a question. Or at least with asking more of them.
I’ve written about the relationship between curiosity and learning before (see The Emotional Learner and this piece for TES), but I haven’t really looked at how curiosity impacts the aging brain. In my new book (due to be published at the end to this year) I do discuss learning across the lifespan, but not much about curiosity.
If you’ve been following my musings for a while, you’ll know that one of my interests is how aging impacts our ability to learn (and perhaps offer a little advice on how to slow cognitive decline), so when I chanced upon a new study from a team of international psychologists I was obviously, well, curious.
According to the study, staying curious as we grow older might be one of the keys to keeping our minds sharp and potentially reducing the risk of dementia and wider aspects of mental decline. The researchers found that while general curiosity (or trait curiosity) tends to dip with age, a more focused, momentary kind of curiosity (state curiosity) may actually increase as we get older.
This is a big deal because it challenges the longstanding idea that curiosity fades with age. Instead, the study suggests that older adults who remain engaged and inquisitive, especially about topics they personally care about, may be protecting their cognitive health in the process.
Psychologist Alan Castel, senior author of the study, said this finding contradicts what
The literature has traditionally claimed that curiosity declines across the lifespan, but in this study, many older participants remained engaged especially when learning about memory or when answering trivia questions.
To better understand what was going on, the researchers, including Mary Whatley, Kou Murayama, and Michiko Sakaki, decided to explore the distinction between two types of curiosity:
Trait curiosity: your general tendency to be inquisitive
State curiosity: your momentary interest in something specific, like wanting to know the answer to a trivia question
They asked over 1,000 adults (ages 20 to 84) to rate their general curiosity and also tested how eager they were to learn the answers to obscure trivia questions — such as: Which country was the first to give women the right to vote? (Answer: New Zealand.)
The results were revealing. While general (trait) curiosity showed a gradual decline with age, state curiosity dipped in early adulthood but then rose again in later life. This echoes what we see with happiness: a midlife dip, followed by an upward swing as people age.
Why the shift? The researchers suggest that during midlife, many of us are focused on careers, mortgages, and family, leaving little mental bandwidth for indulging in curiosity. But as responsibilities ease and we transition into later life, we often rediscover a desire to learn, not out of necessity, but out of joy and personal interest.
As we get older, we don’t stop learning we just become more selective about what we want to learn.
And this is the kind of curiosity can keep us mentally agile.
It may also serve a protective function. A growing body of research shows that people in the early stages of dementia often lose interest in hobbies or topics they once loved. In contrast, those who stay engaged (who keep asking questions and seeking out new knowledge) may be giving their brains the workout they need to stay resilient.
The takeaway? Stay curious. Follow your interests, no matter how quirky or niche. Sign up for that class. Read about things that fascinate you. Your brain just might thank you for it.