Yes/no feedback that one was wrong increased curiosity selectively for high-confidence errors, leaving curiosity about low-confidence errors largely unchanged¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2023 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Being told one was wrong raised curiosity for high-confidence errors but made little difference for low-confidence errors. → Metcalfe 2023

Evidence¶

Metcalfe 2023¶

Metcalfe, J., Vuorre, M., Towner, E., & Eich, T. S. (2023). Curiosity: The effects of feedback and confidence on the desire to know. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, vol. 152, no. 2, pp. 464-482. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001284

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Experiment 2 multilevel regression of curiosity on confidence, feedback condition and accuracy. At confidence 10 the feedback-versus-no-feedback difference was near zero (difference at 10: −0.32), but "curiosity increased selectively and signi ficantly" at confidence 90 (difference 17.28, pd = 100.0%). Experiment 1 (44 participants, errors only) similarly found a positive linear confidence-curiosity relation (bLinear = .24).

"However, curiosity increased selectively and signi ficantly for errors that had been made with high con fi- dence (difference at 90: 17.28, SE = 3.16, 95% CI [11.14, 23.5],"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Interest — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Without feedback, people are more curious about high-confidence errors than about equally high-confidence correct answers, replicated across experiments — related
• Second-order metacognitive judgments of subjective uncertainty show a small high-confidence error/correct difference, smaller than curiosity ratings show — related
• Yes/no feedback that participants were correct nearly quenched curiosity for correct answers, whereas without feedback curiosity peaked at moderate-to-high confidence — related
• Curiosity ratings are functionally distinct from subjective uncertainty ratings: uncertainty declines near-linearly with confidence while curiosity is inverted-U shaped — related