Charan Ranganath

Or sometimes your listeners, I mean, they're probably very curious people. That's why they listen to this. And maybe some of them go to your show notes afterwards because they want to learn more, right? So we actually scan people's brains using functional MRIs. And so we scan them when they get questions, and sometimes they had said, I'm really curious to find out the answer to these questions.

Sometimes they weren't curious. And then we make them wait about eight seconds or ten seconds, I think it was, something like that, and then we show them the answer. So they're kind of in suspense, kind of like you're watching Breaking Bad or something back in the day, people at commercials. And so you're like, oh, no, I got to find out what's going to happen to Walt, right? So you're in suspense.

Sometimes they weren't curious. And then we make them wait about eight seconds or ten seconds, I think it was, something like that, and then we show them the answer. So they're kind of in suspense, kind of like you're watching Breaking Bad or something back in the day, people at commercials. And so you're like, oh, no, I got to find out what's going to happen to Walt, right? So you're in suspense.

Sometimes they weren't curious. And then we make them wait about eight seconds or ten seconds, I think it was, something like that, and then we show them the answer. So they're kind of in suspense, kind of like you're watching Breaking Bad or something back in the day, people at commercials. And so you're like, oh, no, I got to find out what's going to happen to Walt, right? So you're in suspense.

You need to know the answer to this. Or you don't care. Sometimes you just don't care. You're just sitting around. So we show a little face and we say, hey, how likely is it you think this person knows the answer to the question? Now, this is a totally dumb thing to do because they don't know this person. They're just looking at a face. They're just making some arbitrary decision.

You need to know the answer to this. Or you don't care. Sometimes you just don't care. You're just sitting around. So we show a little face and we say, hey, how likely is it you think this person knows the answer to the question? Now, this is a totally dumb thing to do because they don't know this person. They're just looking at a face. They're just making some arbitrary decision.

You need to know the answer to this. Or you don't care. Sometimes you just don't care. You're just sitting around. So we show a little face and we say, hey, how likely is it you think this person knows the answer to the question? Now, this is a totally dumb thing to do because they don't know this person. They're just looking at a face. They're just making some arbitrary decision.

But I'll get to why we did that, because that was, I think, the coolest part of the experiment. But let's first get back to the trivia question. So we found that when we looked at brain activity when we give people the question, right afterwards, there is a burst of activity throughout the so-called reward circuit of the brain. It's not really a reward circuit as we've discussed offline.

But I'll get to why we did that, because that was, I think, the coolest part of the experiment. But let's first get back to the trivia question. So we found that when we looked at brain activity when we give people the question, right afterwards, there is a burst of activity throughout the so-called reward circuit of the brain. It's not really a reward circuit as we've discussed offline.

But I'll get to why we did that, because that was, I think, the coolest part of the experiment. But let's first get back to the trivia question. So we found that when we looked at brain activity when we give people the question, right afterwards, there is a burst of activity throughout the so-called reward circuit of the brain. It's not really a reward circuit as we've discussed offline.

It's really these areas of the brain that process the neurotransmitter dopamine. And unlike many other neuromodulators that go all over the place, dopamine is much more restricted in its effect. And so in the midbrain near the ventral tegmental area, Sorry, I'm geeking out on this.

It's really these areas of the brain that process the neurotransmitter dopamine. And unlike many other neuromodulators that go all over the place, dopamine is much more restricted in its effect. And so in the midbrain near the ventral tegmental area, Sorry, I'm geeking out on this.

It's really these areas of the brain that process the neurotransmitter dopamine. And unlike many other neuromodulators that go all over the place, dopamine is much more restricted in its effect. And so in the midbrain near the ventral tegmental area, Sorry, I'm geeking out on this.

Yeah, yeah. And so when we look at functional MRI, we can't measure dopamine. But what we see is activity in the dopaminergic midbrain area, meaning the area of the brain around the midbrain. And you see it in the nucleus accumbens or what's called the ventral striatum, which is another area that's super high dopamine reward processing area. The more curious people are, like on a one to six scale,

Yeah, yeah. And so when we look at functional MRI, we can't measure dopamine. But what we see is activity in the dopaminergic midbrain area, meaning the area of the brain around the midbrain. And you see it in the nucleus accumbens or what's called the ventral striatum, which is another area that's super high dopamine reward processing area. The more curious people are, like on a one to six scale,

Yeah, yeah. And so when we look at functional MRI, we can't measure dopamine. But what we see is activity in the dopaminergic midbrain area, meaning the area of the brain around the midbrain. And you see it in the nucleus accumbens or what's called the ventral striatum, which is another area that's super high dopamine reward processing area. The more curious people are, like on a one to six scale,

the more activity you see. It's just like this beautiful relationship, right? And it's not driven by the answer. Now there's a reason we probably didn't get it for the answer, but it's driven by the question. So it's not like they're like, oh, I learned something new. It's like, I want to get this knowledge. And so that's part one of the story.

the more activity you see. It's just like this beautiful relationship, right? And it's not driven by the answer. Now there's a reason we probably didn't get it for the answer, but it's driven by the question. So it's not like they're like, oh, I learned something new. It's like, I want to get this knowledge. And so that's part one of the story.

the more activity you see. It's just like this beautiful relationship, right? And it's not driven by the answer. Now there's a reason we probably didn't get it for the answer, but it's driven by the question. So it's not like they're like, oh, I learned something new. It's like, I want to get this knowledge. And so that's part one of the story.

Part two of the story is we show that face right after the question. And if people are curious to find the answer to the question, they get a bump in memory for the faces relative to if they're not curious. Now, the faces have nothing to do with the trivia question, but it's being in that curious state that drives this dopaminergic activity in the membrane.