Curiosity—the desire to know—is a powerful motivator for learning and behavior. Theoretical and anecdotal discussions have also linked curiosity to creativity and innovation, but there is little empirical evidence for this connection, aside from a handful of recent studies. We review the existing evidence and discuss potential mechanisms through which curiosity may facilitate the creative process. We further discuss important methodological issues that have limited past research on the relationship between curiosity and creativity. One limitation is the lack of studies investigating curiosity as a psychological state that fluctuates over time and with changing contexts rather than only as a trait. Another limitation is the scarcity of behavioral measures of exploration and curiosity. We discuss the few existing behavioral measures that have been used and introduce a new measure relying on real effort.

好奇心（对知识的渴望）是学习和行为的强大动力。理论和轶事的讨论也将好奇心与创造力和创新联系在一起，但是，除了最近的一些研究以外，很少有经验证据可以证明这种联系。我们回顾了现有证据并讨论了好奇心可能有助于创造过程的潜在机制。我们将进一步讨论一些重要的方法论问题，这些问题限制了以往对好奇心与创造力之间关系的研究。局限性之一是缺乏研究，将好奇心作为一种心理状态而变化，而这种心理状态会随着时间的推移和环境的变化而变化，而不仅仅是作为一种特质。另一个局限性是缺乏探索和好奇心的行为度量。