STEM conference 2019: Curiosity and reward: A detective's game. Neuroscience applications to memory enhancement

Research has found that when students are reading with curiosity and interest they activate brain areas similar to those seen in rats when searching for food. Curiosity therefore is triggered by the expectation of a reward and seems to produce increases in a range of cognitive functions directly influencing academic performance. These include increases in alertness working memory and long-term memory retention. Here a detective’s game model is presented in which rewarding information is withheld increasing its expectancy until the student has actively searched for it. The discussion provides information on how to manipulate informational rewards within the university context.