Age-Related Changes in Curiosity: The Influence of Locus Coeruleus on Information-Seeking Behavior

Curiosity enhances learning and memory and has been linked to the locus coeruleus (LC), which undergoes age-related decline. To examine how aging affects curiosity and information-seeking, we developed the Photographic Art Storytelling Task. Participants (sixty-eight young and sixty-five older adults) viewed photographs, rated their curiosity, and later read stories associated with selected images. The stories were deliberately constructed to be either interesting or boring, functioning as rewards that elicited prediction errors. Participants reappraised their curiosity, allowing us to separate intrinsic motivation from story-driven reward influences. Associations between performance and both pupil diameter and MRI measures of LC integrity supported a role of LC in curiosity regulation. Aging was associated with greater reliance on novelty-driven (initial) curiosity and a shift away from prediction error-related information-seeking. Both age groups showed curiosity-driven memory enhancement, with older adults exhibiting youth-like effects, suggesting a role for intrinsic motivation in preserving cognitive function in aging.