How curiosity enhances hippocampus-dependent memory (360G-Wellcome-211201_Z_18_Z)

In today’s world, it is most desirable to optimize cognitive capacities, such as learning, across the lifespan. One fundamental, yet poorly understood, method is via a person’s intrinsic curiosity. Despite the ubiquity and importance of curiosity in everyday life, we have a very limited appreciation of the exact neural mechanisms of curiosity-enhanced learning. Because initial curiosity studies have relied on the passive encoding of material, one fundamental aspect of curiosity – active exploration to acquire further knowledge – remains to be investigated. I, therefore, propose a new virtual reality paradigm to characterize the neural mechanisms of how active curiosity enhances memory. Across three principal approaches, I will ask how separate stages of memory (orientation vs. initial learning vs. different modes of consolidation) contribute to curiosity-related memory enhancements and why curiosity-based learning might vary between healthy individuals. I will uncover whole-brain mechanisms and ‘zoom in’ on specific curiosity- and memory-related brain structures using complementary state-of-the-art measures and analyses. Combining such approaches is vital if we are to understand how curiosity enhances memory, but may also aid crucial translation of laboratory-based findings on learning and memory to real-world issues (e.g., influence on educational policies and implications for cognitive resilience in the elderly).