"When we watch TV shows or football games, we're watching that information evolve over time, uncertain about how it's all going to end," said Abby Hsiung, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences." I wondered if higher curiosity would push people to seek, or to avoid, getting an immediate ‘spoiler (剧透)'."
Hsiung drew inspiration from short cooking videos that are popular on Instagram and TikTok, "These videos manage to develop a description and cliffhanger, so that you're interested and curious about how food materials will all come together." So Hsiung made a series of 30-second cartoon line-drawing videos that, like the cooking videos, eventually ended up as something highly recognizable, like a dog.
More than 2,000 adults from across the U.S. then watched 25 of these short line-drawing videos online. Participants in Hsiung's study were asked along the way how curious they were, how they felt, and to guess what the drawing would become. Viewers also had a "spoiler" button to skip ahead to see the final drawing. Hsiung and her team were surprised to find that when people were curious, they avoided hitting the "spoiler" button and kept watching the drawings unfold. It was when people were less curious that they tended to opt for an instant answer. Curiosity didn't just motivate getting answers, but increased the value of the journey itself.
The study also found that curiosity increased at different stages of watching these videos. Higher curiosity during moments where it seemed like the drawing could tun into anything and also when participants were starting to really home in on a single answer. Curiosity also inspired people's feeling of joy, explaining why people kept watching the line-drawing video even when they could just hit a button to get the answer right away. This helps explain why people often avoid spoilers. Knowing the end of a new TV series, for example, can remove the enjoyment of watching the plot develop.
Researchers suggest that inspiring curiosity might also help raise motivation in the classroom to potentially improve learning. Increasing curiosity can improve memory by readying the brain for new information and strengthen persistence throughout a learning journey, which is often needed for deep understanding.
