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Knowledge Gap Illustrations Spark Curiosity.

Luisa Frede1, Lisa Bardach2, Younes Strittmatter3

  • 1Department of Psychology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.

Journal of Cognition
|May 11, 2026
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Making knowledge gaps visible boosts information seeking and learning. Explicitly showing people what they don't know encourages them to read more, leading to better knowledge acquisition.

Keywords:
Decision makingLearningMotivation

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Educational Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Knowledge gaps drive curiosity and information seeking.
  • Previous research inferred knowledge gaps indirectly using confidence ratings.
  • The impact of explicitly highlighting knowledge gaps on information seeking is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how making knowledge gaps salient affects information-seeking behavior.
  • To determine if explicit knowledge gap illustrations enhance knowledge acquisition.
  • To explore the role of curiosity in information seeking.

Main Methods:

  • Two preregistered experiments with 501 and 511 participants, respectively.
  • Participants completed a knowledge test on elephant conservation, then chose to read or skip article chapters.
  • The experimental group received pretest performance scores to highlight knowledge gaps; the control group did not.

Main Results:

  • Illustrating moderate knowledge gaps significantly increased participants' likelihood of seeking information.
  • In Experiment 2, explicit knowledge gap illustration led to greater posttest performance gains compared to the control group.
  • Findings suggest a causal link between salient knowledge gaps and increased information seeking and learning.

Conclusions:

  • Explicitly illustrating knowledge gaps is an effective strategy to stimulate curiosity and information seeking.
  • This method can be leveraged to enhance knowledge acquisition in educational and other contexts.
  • Future research can explore optimal methods for presenting knowledge gaps to maximize engagement and learning.