Curiosity is critical to learning and generally seen as a highly desirable quality, while impulsivity is generally seen as maladaptive and is associated with deleterious outcomes. The differing views of these constructs present somewhat of a paradox, as curiosity and impulsivity share remarkable overlaps, both in terms of the way they are measured behaviorally and in terms of their underlying neural substrates. Here, we review the burgeoning research into curiosity and highlight the ways in which many of the behavioral measures of curiosity rely on time and the impulsive need to know, right now, and without delay. While our understanding of the neural basis of curiosity is still developing, we discuss growing evidence supporting the importance of frontostriatal circuits and their dopaminergic inputs from the midbrain, areas that are critical to impulsivity and reward processing more generally. The commonalities between impulsivity and curiosity offer fertile ground for future research into the developmental time course of both constructs and the ways they are influenced by sociocultural context, experimental parameters, neurological conditions, and behavioral interventions. Finally, we discuss the implications of this somewhat paradoxical relationship for current educational and cultural trends that tend to dampen impulsivity, perhaps thereby inadvertently discouraging curiosity.

好奇心对于学习至关重要，通常被认为是非常理想的素质，而冲动通常被认为是适应不良的行为，并与有害的结果相关。这些构造的不同观点有些自相矛盾，因为好奇心和冲动性在行为测量方式和潜在的神经基质方面都有明显的重叠。在这里，我们回顾了对好奇心的新兴研究，并着重说明了许多好奇心的行为测度如何依赖时间和冲动性需求的方式，即刻即刻而无延迟。虽然我们对好奇心的神经基础的理解仍在发展，但我们讨论了越来越多的证据，这些证据支持前额窦回路及其中脑多巴胺能输入的重要性，对冲动性和更普遍的奖励过程至关重要的领域。冲动性和好奇心之间的共性为将来研究这两种结构的发展历程以及它们受社会文化背景，实验参数，神经系统条件和行为干预的影响方式提供了沃土。最后，我们讨论了这种有点矛盾的关系对当前教育和文化趋势的影响，这些趋势往往会抑制冲动性，也许因此会不经意地抑制好奇心。神经系统状况和行为干预。最后，我们讨论了这种有点矛盾的关系对当前教育和文化趋势的影响，这些趋势往往会抑制冲动性，也许因此会不经意地抑制好奇心。神经系统状况和行为干预。最后，我们讨论了这种有点矛盾的关系对当前教育和文化趋势的影响，这些趋势往往会抑制冲动性，也许因此会不经意地抑制好奇心。