Developing and testing inhibitors of curiosity in the workplace with the Curiosity Code Index (CCI)

Curiosity in Online Video Concept Learning and Short-Term Outcomes in Blended Medical Education

Background: A student's level of curiosity in a subject after learning about it through online videos has not been addressed well in the medical education field. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate online learning's effect on the stimulation of curiosity and short-term learning outcomes in a blended framework of precision medical education.

Methods: A mixed-methods research design was used. During the 2020 academic year, all fifth-year medical students who, prior to class, viewed 6 video clips that presented 6 core concepts were invited to complete a survey and self-reflection on their learning process to assess their level of curiosity in each concept. For each group of medical students, teaching assistants helped collect anonymous survey data and summative assessment scores representing the students' learning outcomes. Video-viewing patterns, attained through an action log transformation, were also coded for analysis. Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests were employed to compare differences between groups, and multiple linear regression was used to select the factors affecting learning outcomes. Qualitative data were content-coded through a descriptive approach using thematic analysis.

Results: Of 142 medical students, 136 watched the online videos, 124 responded to the questionnaires, and 92 provided comments. Students' curiosity levels after learning about each concept through online videos significantly correlated with the degree to which a concept was learned. Medical students spent a median of 1.6 h online, and pause frequency correlated with curiosity in certain concepts. Aroused curiosity was associated with short-term learning outcomes in inconsistent effect sizes and directions. Students' feedback revealed various dimensions of curiosity, including novelty acknowledgment, recognition of an information gap, and information-seeking requests.

Conclusions: Curiosity can be induced through online video learning platforms and has a role in short-term learning outcomes in medical education.

Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Assess Creative Potential Traits

The aim of the study was to develop an inventory to assess traits of creative potential and to analyze its psychometric properties. Three dimensions that could be associated with creative potential were proposed: willingness to transgress, willingness to take on challenges, and willingness to explore. For this purpose 551 participants were chosen to respond to an inventory composed of 12 items: Traits of Creative Potential Questionnaire, (TCPQ-12) and other tests to determine concurrent validity. The correlations between these instruments were significant. In addition, the instrument showed adequate internal consistency (Ω = 0.813) and the exploratory factor analysis yielded salient factors coincident with the proposed dimensions. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated an optimal fit (CFI = 0.984, TLI = 0.979, GFI = 0.963, RMSEA = 0.035). with composite reliability (CR) values > 0.70 in two factors and in one was slightly lower (CR = 0.684). The average variance extracted (AVE) was > 0.5 in two factors and in one < 0.5. The study data allow to highlight that the instrument presented here is a concise instrument with adequate psychometric properties.

Functional connectivity mediates the relationship between self-efficacy and curiosity

Curiosity is an important driving force for human development. This study employed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data (n = 400) and a cross-validation-based predictive framework based on the functional connectivity between and within the default mode network (DMN), fronto-parietal task control network (FPN), and salience network (SN) to explore the relationship between these and curiosity. We found that the curiosity network consisting of functional connections in DMN, FPN, and SN can successfully predict curiosity, and the functional connections within the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and between its nodes and the angular gyrus (AG) made a greater contribution to prediction power. More important, although curiosity has long been considered the main intrinsic motivation of learning and self-efficacy (individual's confidence in his or her own ability) is the primary factor affecting learning motivation, few studies have explored the relationship between the two. Therefore, we speculated that the relationship between the curiosity brain network and curiosity might also be related to self-efficacy. In this study, the strength of the curiosity network was calculated as a mediation variable to explore the relationship between self-efficacy and curiosity. The results revealed that the strength of the curiosity brain network mediates the association between self-efficacy and curiosity score. Our findings suggest that self-efficacy plays an important role in shaping individuals' trait curiosity and extends understanding of the neural mechanism of curiosity.