Curiosity and children’s memory for a dinosaur exhibit

Abstract

Curiosity can boost memory. Here, curiosity and memory were evaluated within children aged 4–9-years old, after their interaction with a novel triceratops dinosaur exhibit at a children’s museum. After visiting an exhibit with a full skeleton fossil of a triceratops, children were re-exposed to 10 dinosaur facts that had been displayed within the exhibit, half of which were prominently-displayed and half of which were more minor facts. Approximately 10 days later, children’s memory for these facts was evaluated via an electronic survey that guardians read aloud to their children. Guardians also rated their child’s curiosity about dinosaurs both before and after visiting the exhibit. Results indicated that higher curiosity levels were significantly correlated with better dinosaur fact recall. Indeed, high curiosity predicted significantly better recall of dinosaur facts relative to low curiosity, particularly for prominently-displayed facts. Moreover, visiting the dinosaur exhibit resulted in significant increases in curiosity about dinosaurs, demonstrating the positive influence of a museum interaction on curiosity for related information. Overall, the present research provides evidence that a museum interaction can boost curiosity, and higher curiosity enhances memory in children.