14.05.2025

Curiosity: A Key to Successful Aging?

New study involving researchers from the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology published.

An international research team, including members from the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, has found that certain forms of curiosity not only persist into old age but can actually increase – challenging previous assumptions that curiosity declines with age.

The study, which involved Prof. Kou Murayama and Dr. Michiko Sakaki, distinguishes between stable, personality-based curiosity (trait curiosity) and situational curiosity (state curiosity), which refers to the spontaneous interest in new information. While general curiosity tends to decline over the lifespan, the study found that interest in specific knowledge – such as quiz questions – significantly increases from middle age onward.

“Our results show that older people are more selective but not less inquisitive,” says Kou Murayama, Humboldt Professor at the University of Tübingen. Additionally, curiosity in later life can serve as an important cognitive protective factor. Older individuals who actively engage with topics of interest and seek to learn new things tend to remain mentally sharper and show fewer signs of dementia.

The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from UCLA and Western Carolina University, and was published in the journal PLOS One.

Publication

Whatley, M.C., Murayama K., Sakaki M., Castel A.D. (2025) Curiosity across the adult lifespan: Age-related differences in state and trait curiosity. PLoS ONE 20(5): e0320600. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320600 

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