Curiosity

Curiosity is a primary characteristic of talented people. Curiosity makes you look forward to learning, improves the memory process and turns learning into a pleasant activity.

Curiosity is a hunger for learning

When hunger strikes it turns on the brain reward circuit. Our body detects the shortage of nutrients and initiates the hungry feeling. In that moment, it is necessary to satisfy it. When we eat, the brain reward circuit secretes dopamin and we feel good. So next time we feel hunger we will now exactly what to do to restore our well-beign: eat.

The brain reward circuit was made to ensure our existence not just as individuals but also as species, because along with hunger and thirst our BRC is liable for the sexual response. When we have a vital need the circuit "kidnaps" us and distract our atention to food, water or sex.

Dopamine is very important in this system. It triggers desire and a craving for reward, setting off our motivation.

Dr. Matthias Gruber from the University of California has discovered thar curiosity , like hunger, triggers the brain reward circuit. When we are curious, learning becomes pleasant, something that our brain will try to repeat. It´s not uncommon that we speak about a "hunger for knowledge", because that´s precisely what curiosity provokes.

Our brain has placed the learning mechanism exactly in the same exact place where we find the control of the activities upon which our survival depends. Nature´s message is clear: Learning guarantees our survival as individuals and species.

Dr. Gruber discovered that when we experience curiosity the BRC secretes dopamine... and the activity in the hippocampus is increased. That part of our brain is related to memory, so it improves our capacity to remember what we are learning in that moment. That is why we learn so fast when we learn somethig interesting.

But the most unnexpected result of that experiment was the demostration that curiosity not only enhances our capacity to learn what you are interested in, but everything in that very moment that surrounds you: sound, faces, environment and everything that comes through our senses. Curiosity is more of a state than simply a drive; a state that makes us more aware about the world that surround us.

Curiosity generates profit

In the actual economic environment, all life-long learning has become a competitive advantage. Having a barchelor and master´s degree and speaking different languages when you are twenty-five years old can open many doors in the job market, but to keep on and grow you have to adapt and expand your knowledge and skills. Otherwise you will be out of date. The most competitive companies know the relationship between life-long learning and pr