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Some people exhibit impressive memory for a wide array of semantic knowledge. What makes these trivia experts better able to learn and retain novel facts? We hypothesized that new semantic knowledge may be more strongly linked to its episodic context in trivia experts. We designed a novel online task in which 132 participants varying in trivia expertise encoded “exhibits” of naturalistic facts with related photos in one of two “museums.” Afterward, participants were tested on cued recall of facts and recognition of the associated photo and museum. Greater trivia expertise predicted higher cued recall for novel facts. Critically, trivia experts but not non-experts showed superior fact recall when they remembered both features (photo and museum) of the encoding context. These findings illustrate enhanced links between episodic memory and new semantic learning in trivia experts, and show the value of studying trivia experts as a special population that can shed light on the mechanisms of memory.
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States of epistemic curiosity interfere with memory for incidental scholastic facts
Abstract Curiosity can be a powerful motivator to learn and retain new information. Evidence shows that high states of curiosity elicited by a specific source (i.e., a trivia question) can promote memory for incidental stimuli (non-target) presented close in time. The spreading effect of curiosity states on memory for other information has potential for educational applications. Specifically, it could provide techniques to improve learning for information that did not spark a sense of curiosity on its own. Here, we investigated how high states of curiosity induced through trivia questions affect memory performance for unrelated scholastic facts (e.g., scientific, English, or historical facts) presented in close temporal proximity to the trivia question. Across three task versions, participants viewed trivia questions closely followed in time by a scholastic fact unrelated to the trivia question, either just prior to or immediately following the answer to the trivia question. Participants then completed a surprise multiple-choice memory test (akin to a pop quiz) for the scholastic material. In all three task versions, memory performance was poorer for scholastic facts presented after trivia questions that had elicited high versus low levels of curiosity. These results contradict previous findings showing curiosity-enhanced memory for incidentally presented visual stimuli and suggest that target information that generates a high-curiosity state interferes with encoding complex and unrelated scholastic facts presented close in time.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1844792
- PAR ID:
- 10495912
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- npj Science of Learning
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2056-7936
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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