A small mental shift that changes how your brain handles uncertainty
This week’s Better You, Backed by Science is about curiosity and how it can be used as a tool to quench the anxiety of uncertainty.
The brain doesn’t like uncertainty.
When we don’t know what’s coming, it often triggers worry and the brain’s threat-detection systems activate.
But neuroscience suggests a surprisingly powerful antidote:
Curiosity.
Studies show that curiosity activates the brain’s reward circuitry, particularly areas linked to dopamine release such as parts of the striatum and midbrain.
These are the same circuits involved in motivation and learning.
In other words, curiosity turns uncertainty into something the brain wants to explore rather than avoid.
In a well-known study at the University of California, Davis, researchers found that when people were curious about an answer to a question, activity increased in reward-related brain regions.
Even more interesting, the state of curiosity enhanced memory formation in the hippocampus – meaning people remembered information better.
Curiosity literally primes the brain to learn.
Psychologists have also found that adopting a curious mindset can make people more comfortable with uncertainty, because curiosity reframes the unknown as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Instead of asking:
“What if this goes wrong?” or “What if I can’t get the answer?”
the brain begins asking:
“I wonder what might happen?” or “I wonder what the answer is?”
That small shift changes the emotional tone completely.
Anxiety narrows attention.
Curiosity opens it.
Try this
This week, when you face something uncertain – a meeting, decision, or unfamiliar situation – try reframing it.
Instead of thinking:
“What if this goes badly?”
ask yourself:
“What’s interesting about this situation?”
or
“What might I learn here?”
This simple question nudges the brain from threat mode into exploration mode.
And when the brain becomes curious… uncertainty starts to feel less like danger and more like discovery. And fear begins to lose its grip.
Essentially, curiosity turns the unknown from something to fear into something to explore.
Want to explore more?
I always make a YouTube video based on these Better You, Backed by Science emails.
If you’d like to view this one, where I dive a little deeper into how to turn anxiety into curiosity, here’s the direct link. Video length approx 4.5 minutes.
And here’s a link to my entire Better You, Backed by Science playlist, with a video on every single previous email going back to the middle of last year.
References
University of California at Davis study: Gruber, M., Gelman, B., & Ranganath, C. (2014). States of curiosity modulate hippocampus-dependent learning via the dopaminergic circuit. Neuron. Link here.
See also: Kang, M. J., et al. (2009). The wick in the candle of learning: Epistemic curiosity activates reward circuitry and enhances memory. Psychological Science. Link here.
Seel also: Kashdan, T., & Silvia, P. (2009). Curiosity and interest: The benefits of thriving on novelty and challenge. Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology.
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