<p>Anecdotally, there seems to be overwhelming evidence that people become less curious as they age.</p>
<p>Is there formal, systematic evidence for this?</p>
<p>Further, are there any theories/mechanisms that explain why this is the case?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-21T15:33:26.643Z
*"Anecdotally, there seems to be overwhelming evidence that people become less curious as they age."* Can you please give some examples?
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-21T21:24:50.807Z
While this might be generally true, outliers certainly exist. It might be helpful to look more deeply at the outliers and seek to understand why they are different than the general population. Richard Feynman, for example, is a good example of someone who did not lose his curiosity as he aged.
Alex Ryan
<reference-request><aging>
Is there any formal documentation and explanation of why people tend to lose curiosity as they age?
J Li
# Is there any formal documentation and explanation of why people tend to lose curiosity as they age?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-03-20)

Anecdotally, there seems to be overwhelming evidence that people become less curious as they age.

Is there formal, systematic evidence for this?

Further, are there any theories/mechanisms that explain why this is the case?

**Tags:** reference-request, aging

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: *"Anecdotally, there seems to be overwhelming evidence that people become less curious as they age."* Can you please give some examples?  
> **username_2**: While this might be generally true, outliers certainly exist. It might be helpful to look more deeply at the outliers and seek to understand why they are different than the general population. Richard Feynman, for example, is a good example of someone who did not lose his curiosity as he aged.  

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