Summary: New research indicates that curiosity changes with age in more nuanced ways than previously thought. While broad, stable curiosity traits tend to decline over the adult lifespan, momentary or situation-driven curiosity — called state curiosity — actually rises in later life. Older adults in the study reported stronger interest in learning new, personally relevant information, a pattern that could help maintain cognitive function as people age.
The researchers suggest that preserving this selective, topic-specific curiosity may help counteract early signs of cognitive decline. Loss of interest and reduced engagement often accompany the earliest stages of dementia, so keeping curiosity alive could be an important element of healthy aging. These findings refine prior assumptions and emphasize the value of targeted learning and continued intellectual engagement.
Key Facts:
- Rising State Curiosity: Measurements of state curiosity (interest in specific questions or topics) increased in older adults even though trait curiosity (general disposition) declined.
- Potential Protective Role: Elevated curiosity in later life may contribute to resilience against Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive decline, according to the authors’ interpretation.
- Selective Engagement: Older adults tended to focus curiosity on meaningful, personally relevant information rather than maintaining a broad, general inquisitiveness.
Source: UCLA
What is the secret to aging successfully?
If you are wondering whether curiosity plays a role, this international study — led by psychologists including researchers from UCLA — offers encouraging evidence. The team found that certain forms of curiosity can grow well into older adulthood and that people who stay curious about topics that matter to them remain more engaged with learning. That engagement could help offset risks associated with cognitive decline.
The team notes that reduced curiosity and disinterest can be warning signs of dementia, so distinguishing between declines in general curiosity and increases in targeted, situational curiosity is important for understanding cognitive aging.
Previous studies often concluded that curiosity decreases with age. But the new analysis separates two forms of curiosity — trait and state — and finds that they follow different trajectories across adulthood.
“The psychology literature shows that trait curiosity, a person’s general level of inquisitiveness, tends to decline with age,” said UCLA psychologist Alan Castel, senior author of the paper published in PLOS One. “Yet in our experiments many older participants were highly engaged and eager to learn about particular topics, such as memory and other areas of trivia.”
Castel and doctoral researcher Mary Whatley (now an assistant professor of psychology at Western Carolina University), together with Kou Murayama and Michiko Sakaki from the University of Tübingen and Kochi University of Technology, proposed that state curiosity — the immediate desire to know about a specific item or question — could increase even as trait curiosity decreases.
Trait curiosity refers to a person’s enduring tendency to seek out novelty and information across situations. State curiosity describes a temporary, situational feeling of interest triggered by a particular question, topic or context. Someone may score low on trait curiosity overall yet experience intense state curiosity about specific hobbies or areas of expertise.
To disentangle these patterns, the researchers gathered a large sample of adults aged 20 to 84 (average age 44) and used an online questionnaire to measure general, trait curiosity. They then assessed state curiosity with a trivia task: participants guessed answers to difficult general-knowledge questions and rated how eager they were to learn the correct answers before they were revealed (for example, What was the first country to give women the right to vote?).
The analysis revealed that trait and state curiosity are correlated — people who tend to be curious in general also often feel curious in specific moments — but their relationships with age differ. Trait curiosity showed a steady decrease with age, while state curiosity dipped in early adulthood then rose sharply after middle age and continued increasing into later life.
The authors relate this pattern to life-course responsibilities. During early and mid-adulthood, people commonly channel curiosity toward acquiring career and life skills—learning required for work, family and financial responsibilities. As those demands ease in later life, individuals can become more selective, pursuing topics that matter to them personally and experiencing stronger momentary curiosity about those subjects.
“Our findings align with selectivity theory,” Castel said. “As people age they do not stop learning — they become choosier about what they want to learn. Many older adults return to classes, take up hobbies or pursue interests like birdwatching. Maintaining that selective curiosity may help keep the mind sharp.”
Castel added that memory research shows people tend to forget material that fails to engage their curiosity. Older adults may therefore retain information that aligns with their priorities while discarding less relevant details. He also noted that loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities is often reported among people in the early stages of dementia, highlighting the potential importance of monitoring curiosity and engagement.
Funding: This research received support from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging, the Leverhulme Trust and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
About this aging and cognition research news
Author: Holly Ober
Source: UCLA
Contact: Holly Ober – UCLA
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access. “Curiosity across the adult lifespan: Age-related differences in state and trait curiosity” by Alan Castel et al., published in PLOS One (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0320600).
Abstract
Curiosity across the adult lifespan: Age-related differences in state and trait curiosity
Maintaining curiosity into older age may predict aspects of successful aging, yet prior work has yielded mixed results and often conflated different forms of curiosity. Evidence suggests that trait curiosity declines with age, while state curiosity — the situational desire to learn about specific information — may increase. In a large lifespan sample (pilot study N = 193; preregistered main study N = 1,218), the authors measured both trait curiosity and state curiosity (via a trivia-rating task) to examine their relationships with age. Results indicate a negative relationship between trait curiosity and age but a positive relationship between state curiosity and age after controlling for demographic variables. These findings imply a more complex association between curiosity and aging and have implications for how older adults engage in cognitive activities in everyday life.