Skip to main content
Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Knowledge Gap Illustrations Spark Curiosity Cover

Knowledge Gap Illustrations Spark Curiosity

Open Access
|May 2026

References

  1. Atkinson, J. W., & Litwin, G. H. (1960). Achievement motive and test anxiety conceived as motive to approach success and motive to avoid failure. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60(1), 52. 10.1037/h0041119
  2. Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 148. 10.18637/jss.v067.i01
  3. Berlyne, D. E. (1950). Novelty and curiosity as determinants of exploratory behaviour. British Journal of Psychology, 41(1), 68. 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1950.tb00262.x
  4. Berlyne, D. E. (1966). Curiosity and exploration: Animals spend much of their time seeking stimuli whose significance raises problems for psychology. Science, 153(3731), 2533. 10.1126/science.153.3731.25
  5. Brod, G., & Breitwieser, J. (2019). Lighting the wick in the candle of learning: Generating a prediction stimulates curiosity. NPJ Science of Learning, 4(1), 17. 10.1038/s41539-019-0056-y
  6. Burnham, K. P., & Anderson, D. R. (2002). Model selection and multimodel inference: A practical information-theoretic approach. Springer.
  7. Butler, D. L., & Winne, P. H. (1995). Feedback and self-regulated learning: A theoretical synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 65(3), 245281. 10.3102/00346543065003245
  8. Cantor, J. H., & Cantor, G. N. (1964). Observing behavior in children as a function of stimulus novelty. Child Development, 119128. 10.2307/1126576
  9. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Routledge.
  10. Devine, S., & Otto, A. R. (2022). Information about task progress modulates cognitive demand avoidance. Cognition, 225, 105107. 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105107
  11. Dubey, R., & Griffiths, T. L. (2020). Reconciling novelty and complexity through a rational analysis of curiosity. Psychological Review, 127(3), 455. 10.1037/rev0000175
  12. Fantz, R. L. (1964). Visual experience in infants: Decreased attention to familiar patterns relative to novel ones. Science, 146(3644), 668670. 10.1126/science.146.3644.668
  13. Golman, R., Hagmann, D., & Loewenstein, G. (2017). Information avoidance. Journal of Economic Literature, 55(1), 96135. 10.1257/jel.20151245
  14. Golman, R., & Loewenstein, G. (2018). Information gaps: A theory of preferences regarding the presence and absence of information. Decision, 5(3), 143164. 10.1037/dec0000068
  15. Green, P., & MacLeod, C. J. (2016). Simr: An r package for power analysis of generalised linear mixed models by simulation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 7(4), 493498. 10.1111/2041-210X.12504
  16. Grossnickle, E. M. (2016). Disentangling curiosity: Dimensionality, definitions, and distinctions from interest in educational contexts. Educational Psychology Review, 28(1), 2360. 10.1007/s10648-014-9294-y
  17. Gruber, M. J., Gelman, B. D., & Ranganath, C. (2014). States of curiosity modulate hippocampus- dependent learning via the dopaminergic circuit. Neuron, 84(2), 486496. 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.08.060
  18. Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81112. 10.3102/003465430298487
  19. Hertwig, R., & Engel, C. (2016). Homo ignorans: Deliberately choosing not to know. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(3), 359372. 10.1177/1745691616635594
  20. Hightow, L. B., Miller, W. C., Leone, P. A., Wohl, D., Smurzynski, M., & Kaplan, A. H. (2003). Failure to return for hiv posttest counseling in an std clinic population. AIDS Education and Prevention, 15(3), 282290. 10.1521/aeap.15.4.282.23826
  21. Hsiung, A., Poh, J.-H., Huettel, S. A., & Adcock, R. A. (2023). Curiosity evolves as information unfolds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(43), e2301974120. 10.1073/pnas.2301974120
  22. Jach, H. K., Cools, R., Frisvold, A., Grubb, M. A., Hartley, C. A., Hartmann, J., Hunter, L., Jia, R., de Lange, F. P., Larisch, R., et al. (2024). Individual differences in information demand have a low dimensional structure predicted by some curiosity traits. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(45), e2415236121. 10.1073/pnas.2415236121
  23. Jiwa, M., Cooper, P. S., Chong, T. T.-J., & Bode, S. (2021). Choosing increases the value of non-instrumental information. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 8780. 10.1038/s41598-021-88031-y
  24. Kang, M. J., Hsu, M., Krajbich, I. M., Loewenstein, G., McClure, S. M., Wang, J. T.-y., & Camerer, C. F. (2009). The wick in the candle of learning: Epistemic curiosity activates reward circuitry and enhances memory. Psychological Science, 20(8), 963973. 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02402.x
  25. Kidd, C., & Hayden, B. Y. (2015). The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity. Neuron, 88(3), 449460. 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.09.010
  26. Kim, S., Sakaki, M., & Murayama, K. (2024). Metacognition of curiosity: People underestimate the seductive lure of non-instrumental information. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31(3), 112. 10.3758/s13423-023-02404-0
  27. Kuznetsova, A., Brockhoff, P. B., & Christensen, R. H. B. (2017). lmerTest package: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Journal of Statistical Software, 82(13), 126. 10.18637/jss.v082.i13
  28. Law, E., Yin, M., Goh, J., Chen, K., Terry, M. A., & Gajos, K. Z. (2016). Curiosity killed the cat, but makes crowdwork better. Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 40984110. 10.1145/2858036.2858144
  29. Lenth, R. V. (2024). Emmeans: Estimated marginal means, aka least-squares means [R package version 1.10.5]. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=emmeans
  30. Litman, J. (2005). Curiosity and the pleasures of learning: Wanting and liking new information. Cognition and Emotion, 19(6), 793814. 10.1080/02699930541000101
  31. Litt, A., Reich, T., Maymin, S., & Shiv, B. (2011). Pressure and perverse flights to familiarity. Psychological Science, 22(4), 523531. 10.1177/0956797611400095
  32. Loewenstein, G. (1994). The psychology of curiosity: A review and reinterpretation. Psychological Bulletin, 116(1), 75. 10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.75
  33. Lüdecke, D. (2024). Sjplot: Data visualization for statistics in social science [R package version 2.8.16]. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=sjPlot
  34. Metcalfe, J., Vuorre, M., Towner, E., & Eich, T. S. (2023). Curiosity: The effects of feedback and confidence on the desire to know. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(2), 464. 10.1037/xge0001284
  35. Murayama, K. (2022). A reward-learning framework of knowledge acquisition: An integrated account of curiosity, interest, and intrinsic–extrinsic rewards. Psychological Review, 129(1), 175. 10.1037/rev0000349
  36. Murayama, K., FitzGibbon, L., & Sakaki, M. (2019). Process account of curiosity and interest: A reward- learning perspective. Educational Psychology Review, 31(4), 875895. 10.1007/s10648-019-09499-9
  37. Murty, V. P., DuBrow, S., & Davachi, L. (2015). The simple act of choosing influences declarative memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(16), 62556264. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4181-14.2015
  38. Neath, A. A., & Cavanaugh, J. E. (2012). The bayesian information criterion: Background, derivation, and applications. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics, 4(2), 199203. 10.1002/wics.199
  39. Pedersen, T. L. (2024). Patchwork: The composer of plots [R package version 1.3.0]. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=patchwork
  40. Pisula, W., & Siegel, J. (2005). Exploratory behavior as a function of environmental novelty and complexity in male and female rats. Psychological Reports, 97(2), 631638. 10.2466/pr0.97.2.631-638
  41. R Core Team. (2021). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/
  42. Romero Verdugo, P., van Lieshout, L. L., de Lange, F. P., & Cools, R. (2023). Choice boosts curiosity. Psychological Science, 34(1), 99110. 10.1177/09567976221082637
  43. Schumacher, A., Kammerer, Y., Scharinger, C., Gottschling, S., Hübner, N., Tibus, M., Kasneci, E., Appel, T., Gerjets, P., & Bardach, L. (2025). How do intellectually curious and interested people learn and attain knowledge? a focus on behavioral traces of information seeking. European Journal of Personality, 08902070241309124. 10.31219/osf.io/6djkr_v2
  44. Schumacher, A., Spitzer, M. W., Jach, H., Kammerer, Y., Scharinger, C., & Bardach, L. (2024). From clicks to curiosity: Exploring self-directed information seeking as a behavioral manifestation of curiosity. 10.31219/osf.io/fj34x
  45. Shin, D. D., & Kim, S.-i. (2019). Homo curious: Curious or interested? Educational Psychology Review, 31(4), 853874. 10.1007/s10648-019-09497-x
  46. Smock, C. D., & Holt, B. G. (1962). Children’s reactions to novelty: An experimental study of “curiosity motivation”. Child Development, 631642. 10.2307/1126663
  47. Spitzer, M. W. H., Janz, J., Nie, M., & Kiesel, A. (2024). On the interplay of curiosity, confidence, and importance in knowing information. Psychological Research, 88(1), 101115. 10.1007/s00426-023-01841-9
  48. Spitzer, M. W. H., Strittmatter, Y., Marti, M., Schumacher, A., & Bardach, L. (2025). Curiosity overpowers cognitive effort avoidance tendencies. Cognition, 262, 106167. 10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106167
  49. Sweeny, K., Melnyk, D., Miller, W., & Shepperd, J. A. (2010). Information avoidance: Who, what, when, and why. Review of General Psychology, 14(4), 340353. 10.1037/a0021288
  50. Tao, G., Branson, B. M., Kassler, W. J., & Cohen, R. A. (1999). Rates of receiving hiv test results: Data from the us national health interview survey for 1994 and 1995. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 22(4), 395400. 10.1097/00126334-199912010-00011
  51. Ten, A., Oudeyer, P.-Y., Sakaki, M., & Murayama, K. (2025). The curious u: Integrating theories linking knowledge and information-seeking behavior. Open Mind, 9, 17631785. 10.1162/OPMI.a.41
  52. Trope, Y. (1975). Seeking information about one’s ability as a determinant of choice among tasks. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32(6), 1004. 10.1037/0022-3514.32.6.1004
  53. van Lieshout, L. L., de Lange, F. P., & Cools, R. (2020). Why so curious? quantifying mechanisms of information seeking. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 35, 112117. 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.08.005
  54. Wade, S., & Kidd, C. (2019). The role of prior knowledge and curiosity in learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 26, 13771387. 10.3758/s13423-019-01598-6
  55. Wansink, B., Cheney, M. M., & Chan, N. (2003). Exploring comfort food preferences across age and gender. Physiology & Behavior, 79(4–5), 739747. 10.1016/S0031-9384(03)00203-8
  56. Wickham, H., Averick, M., Bryan, J., Chang, W., McGowan, L. D., François, R., Grolemund, G., Hayes, A., Henry, L., Hester, J., Kuhn, M., Pedersen, T. L., Miller, E., Bache, S. M., Müller, K., Ooms, J., Robinson, D., Seidel, D. P., Spinu, V., Takahashi, K., Vaughan, D., Wilke, C., Woo, K., & Yutani, H. (2019). Welcome to the tidyverse. Journal of Open Source Software, 4(43), 1686. 10.21105/joss.01686
  57. Wilson, T. D. (2024). Curiosity and information-seeking behaviour: A review of psychological research and a comparison with the information science literature. Journal of Documentation, 80(7), 4359. 10.1108/JD-09-2023-0173
  58. Wisniewski, B., Zierer, K., & Hattie, J. (2020). The power of feedback revisited: A meta-analysis of educational feedback research. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 487662. 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03087
  59. Yagi, A., FitzGibbon, L., Murayama, K., Shinomori, K., & Sakaki, M. (2023). Uncertainty drives exploration of negative information across younger and older adults. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 23(3), 809826. 10.3758/s13415-023-01082-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.501 | Journal eISSN: 2514-4820
Language: English
Page range: 28 - 28
Submitted on: Apr 23, 2026
Accepted on: Apr 23, 2026
Published on: May 7, 2026
Published by: Ubiquity Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2026 Luisa Frede, Lisa Bardach, Younes Strittmatter, Eileen Richter, Marie Mueckstein, Markus W. H. Spitzer, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.