You gaze up at the sky and spot something unfamiliar. Is it a balloon, a plane, or even a UFO? This triggers your curiosity, doesn’t it? A recent study has provided insights into what goes on in the human brain when feelings of curiosity are sparked. The researchers identified specific brain areas involved in assessing uncertainty in visually ambiguous situations, leading to the experience of curiosity.
You gaze up at the sky and spot something unfamiliar. Is it a balloon, a plane, or even a UFO? This triggers your curiosity, doesn’t it?
The study, conducted by a research team at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, is the first to observe the brain activity associated with curiosity. Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the research highlighted brain regions responsible for evaluating uncertainty in visually ambiguous scenarios, which in turn arouses curiosity.
“Curiosity is deeply rooted in biology,” explained Jacqueline Gottlieb, PhD, the corresponding author and a principal investigator at the Zuckerman Institute. She emphasized that curiosity serves an evolutionary purpose by prompting organisms to explore their environment in ways that enhance their survival.
Dr. Gottlieb, who is also a neuroscience professor at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, noted that human curiosity extends beyond seeking material rewards or survival benefits. Human curiosity drives exploration for the sake of knowledge acquisition, leading to increased creativity.
The study team included Michael Cohanpour, PhD, a former graduate student at Columbia (now a data scientist with dsm-firmenich), and Mariam Aly, PhD, previously at Columbia and currently an acting associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a noninvasive technology, the researchers monitored changes in blood-oxygen levels in the brains of 32 participants. This technology enabled them to track brain activity by measuring oxygen consumption in different brain regions as the participants viewed images.
To identify brain regions linked to curiosity, participants were shown special images called texforms. These were distorted images of objects, such as a walrus or a hat, making recognition more or less challenging.
The researchers asked participants to rate their confidence and curiosity levels for each texform. Interestingly, they found an inverse relationship between confidence and curiosity. The more certain participants were about the image, the less curious they felt, and vice versa.
Utilizing fMRI data, the researchers analyzed brain activity in response to texforms. High activity was observed in the occipitotemporal cortex (OTC), a brain region associated with visual processing and object recognition. The OTC showed different activity patterns depending on how uncertain the participants were about the texform category.
In summary, the study offers insights into how curiosity emerges in the human brain and provides a basis for future research on curiosity’s neurological underpinnings.
