'Curiosity is a cognitive reward'

In a bid to unlock the mystery behind what triggers curiosity, researchers have discovered similarities in brain activation between a state of curiosity and the anticipation of rewards such as food or money.

The results state that having a curious attitude can help learn better and paves the way for better teaching methods and understanding neurological disorders, which affect learning and memory.

To reach this conclusion, participants were asked to rate trivia questions, covering a variety of topics, including science, TV shows and politics, based on how curious they were to know the answers.

Each individual then went into an MRI scanner where the questions appeared on screen.

There was an anticipation period of 14 seconds before the answer was given.

The MRI results showed that the 14-second-long anticipatory period - but not the answer itself - caused a spike of activity in brain areas linked to motivation, reward and dopamine release.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is released in the midbrain in response to unexpected rewards.

During states of high curiosity, the researchers saw brain activation patterns that appear consistent with the release of dopamine.

"Curiosity is sort of like a cognitive reward and these results seem to suggest that cognitive reward also activates dopamine," said study author and psychologist Matthias Gruber from the University of California, Davis in the US.

The paper appeared in the journal Neuron.