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The key to maintaining brain health and cognitive sharpness as you age may lie in nurturing your curiosity, according to a recent study. Being curious in old age could potentially help in preventing or delaying Alzheimer’s disease.
“Curiosity is broadly defined as a desire to learn, experience, or explore new information or environments. It is a motivating force that drives us to engage in hobbies, pursue education, and travel to discover new things,” the study authors explained.
“Trait curiosity, which refers to an individual’s stable inclination to actively seek knowledge and information, has been associated with various positive attributes in everyday situations. In educational settings, curiosity is linked to students’ questioning rates and academic performance. Moreover, medical students with higher levels of curiosity tend to have deeper motivations for learning and employ more effective study strategies when acquiring new information,” the authors added.
Psychologists distinguish between state curiosity, which is a temporary feeling of curiosity, and trait curiosity, which is a fundamental aspect of an individual’s personality and lifestyle. In older age, curiosity plays a crucial role in motivating people to engage in lifelong learning activities such as enrolling in classes to acquire new skills. These intellectually stimulating pursuits help preserve cognitive function in the aging brain.
Senior author of the study, Alan Castel, a psychologist at UCLA, stated in a press release: “You see this in the context of lifelong learning: A lot of older adults will go back to take classes or pick up hobbies or engage in bird watching. I think it shows that this level of curiosity if maintained, can really keep us sharp as we age.”
To delve deeper into how both forms of curiosity manifest in adults, the researchers surveyed 1,218 participants aged 20 to 84. The participants completed an online questionnaire assessing their curiosity levels by responding to questions like: “What is added to white sugar to make brown sugar? (answer: molasses) and what is the name of the biggest constellation in the sky? (answer: hydra).”
The researchers then rated each participant’s curiosity level on a scale of one to 10. “Age does not uniformly impact curiosity; rather, the multifaceted nature of this construct must be considered when discussing aging effects,” they observed. “Curiosity encompasses various psychological processes (e.g., emotional processes, reinforcement, learning, attention, appraisal, etc.), each of which may be differently influenced by age.”
Prior research has indicated that younger adults tend to exhibit more curiosity about learning new subjects, while older adults are more inclined to continue expanding their existing knowledge.
“It is crucial to explore ways in which older adults can maintain curiosity beyond trait curiosity measures. Specifically, older adults may selectively focus on topics that are highly relevant to them or align with their existing knowledge, which can benefit them in specific contexts. For instance, if an older adult is curious about gardening, they may be more inclined to read gardening magazines, join gardening groups, or learn new gardening techniques,” the researchers emphasized in their study published in the journal PLoS One in May 2025.
“Engaging in such activities can promote overall well-being and cognitive outcomes in older age by fostering social connections and acquiring complex new skills. Hence, it is important to acknowledge and encourage specific domains of curiosity for older adults, rather than solely focusing on trait curiosity measures,” they added.
