From clicks to curiosity: Exploring self-directed information seeking as a behavioral manifestation of curiosity

Information seeking as a behavioral manifestation of curiosity has often been captured with experimental tasks that explicitly prompt information seeking instead of capturing participants' self-initiated exploratory behaviors. This online study (N = 799 English-speaking adults, mostly from the United Kingdom) was conducted in 2023 and combined aspects of experimental curiosity research with more naturalistic exploration methods by introducing a novel experimental setup. Participants freely explored a hypertext on a historical topic, while their self-directed information seeking (i.e., clicks on hyperlinks and reading time) was captured with log data. Participants then completed a knowledge test in which they also reported their confidence in their answers and their curiosity about learning the correct answers. We found that simply choosing to seek additional information (clicking on a hyperlink) did not predict curiosity ratings, whereas the extent of engagement (reading time) did. Moreover, trait curiosity moderated the relationship between confidence and state curiosity, with highly trait-curious individuals maintaining higher state curiosity under low confidence, unlike those with low trait curiosity. This study presents a promising way to assess curiosity in a controlled experimental task resembling real-world learning situations and provides a comprehensive perspective on the dynamic ways in which curiosity is sparked and satisfied. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).