Theories of study time allocation and of curiosity suggest that people are most engaged with and want to devote their time to materials that are not completely mastered but also are not so difficult that they might be impossible. Their curiosity is thought to be triggered by items that are almost known, or are in what is sometimes called the region of proximal learning. Answers that are on the ...

Although documenting everyday activities may seem trivial, four studies reveal that creating records of the present generates unexpected benefits by allowing future rediscoveries. In Study 1, we used a time-capsule paradigm to show that individuals underestimate the extent to which rediscovering experiences from the past will be curiosity provoking and interesting in the future. In Studies 2 an...

Ilhan Inan’s (2012) approach to curiosity is based on the following central theses: (i) for every question asked out of curiosity there is a corresponding term (defi nite description) that is inostensible for the asker (its reference is unknown) and that has the function of uniquely identifying an object; (ii) the satisfaction of curiosity is always in the form of coming to know an object as fa...

Life as a Neurological Surgeon is a foreboding responsibility and a gratifying opportunity. Having the confidence and trust of individuals faced with a life or death situation requires extensive training and experience. Curiosity provides the motivation to continuously seek better understanding of complex disease problems, better technology, improved diagnostic capability, and surgical skills. ...

The primary goals of this Special Issue are to encourage readers to become more familiar with the range of mind-body therapies and to explore their application in the pediatric clinical setting. The Special Issue includes a deliberate mix of case studies and practical clinical guidance, with the dual goals of piquing curiosity and providing resources for clinicians interested in pursuing furthe...

Agent technology can be incorporated into virtual learning environments to potentially address core issues of interest and engagement in learning. This paper proposes a learning companion agent to stimulate students’ curiosity in a virtual learning environment. Curiosity is the intrinsic motivation for learning and has been shown in educational studies to promote deep learning. The curious lear...

The concepts of attention and intrinsic motivations are of great interest within adaptive robotic systems, and can be exploited in order to guide, activate, and coordinate multiple concurrent behaviors. Attention allocation strategies represent key capabilities of human beings, which are strictly connected with action selection and execution mechanisms, while intrinsic motivations directly affe...

This is editorial letter 15, which I submit to you as your Editor-in-Chief of International Surgery, the flagship Journal of the International College of Surgeons. International Surgery has had ten Editorsin-Chief since establishment of the Journal and I am the 11th Editor-in-Chief. Curiosity is, in part, what drives achievement and progress. Albert Einstein is quoted: ‘‘The important thing is ...