Studies show that as we get older, we tend to become much less curious about the world around us, in comparison with children. Our apathy increases and we become less open to having new experiences. Researchers have known about this drop in curiosity for a long time, but they’ve also found that greater curiosity in aging adults has a correlation with good mental health. In old age, it appears that cognitive performance can actually be maintained by curiosity! As part of a 2018 study, elderly people ranked as “curious” performed much better in memory and cognitive function tests. It’s not just the elderly who reap the benefits of staying curious either. People of all ages were examined in the study, and those who had high levels of curiosity tended to be much more satisfied with their lives, and in very good mental health, regardless of age. But what exactly do we mean by curiosity? In simple dictionary terms, it’s a desire to know or learn things. But there’s more to it than that - it also means being willing to engage with new and unfamiliar experiences, philosophies and concepts. If these studies are correct, perhaps we must start believing that “Curiosity did not kill the cat,” and that “You can teach an old dog new tricks!”
