Curiosity is a fundamental part of human motivation that supports a variety of human intellectual behaviors ranging from early learning in children to scientific discovery. However, there has been little attention paid to the role of curiosity in aging populations. By bringing together broad but sparse neuroscientific and psychological literature on curiosity and related concepts (e.g., novelty seeking in older adults), we propose that curiosity, although it declines with age, plays an important role in maintaining cognitive function, mental health, and physical health in older adults. We identify the dopaminergic reward system and the noradrenergic system as the key brain systems implicated in curiosity processing and discuss how these brain systems contribute to the relationship between curiosity and adaptive aging.

好奇心是人类动机的基本组成部分，支持从人类早期学习到科学发现等各种人类智力行为。但是，很少有人关注好奇心在老龄化人口中的作用。通过收集有关好奇心和相关概念（例如，老年人寻求新奇事物）的广泛而稀疏的神经科学和心理学文献，我们建议，尽管好奇心随着年龄的增长而下降，但在维持认知功能，心理健康和身体健康方面起着重要作用。老年人的健康。我们将多巴胺能奖赏系统和去甲肾上腺素能系统确定为好奇心处理中涉及的关键大脑系统，并讨论了这些大脑系统如何促进好奇心与适应性衰老之间的关系。