Inside the Curious Brain- pt 4 Exploring Realms of neuroscience my way

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Why does one mind light up over astronomy while another pulses with poems?

Beneath every passion lies a neural story — a dance between attention, neural valuation, and reward circuits. In this post, we unpack the neuroscience that turns curiosity into lasting interest.

It is very human to have interests in vivid things, and sometimes we humans don’t validate each other’s interests and end up arguing.

But how does one know what their interests are?

And when does one know?

And why, in the first place, do we differ in likes and dislikes?

Why is our brain crazy for a particular thing? (Mine brain is crazy behind itself btw.)

So what actually creates interest?

1. Attention

It’s simply love at first sight.

Something catches your attention (maybe your brain is free at that time), and you want to explore it further. Then your brain analyses how other people (other brains) react to that thing.

Is it validated enough?

Will I get rewarded with dopamine?

2. Dopamine: The reward system

Your brain thinks hard after trying different activities:

Did it hit the spot?

Does doing this thing, or engaging attention towards it, release dopamine?

Here’s a catch — some things, on repeated attempts, lower the amount of dopamine release.

(Now you know why you get bored of things after some time!)

And yes, consistency at something becomes hard because of this.

3. The brain feeds on information

The brain is always exploring through people, food, things, tones, visuals, smells, and sounds around.

And when an activity — for example dancing — involves coordination of multiple things and also gets validation, the brain simply wants to try that again.

4. Environment

Well, this is pure luck.

How people you grow up with react to things greatly affects your interests. Despite this, sometimes the interests of a person go beyond what other people think or how they react.

This is a strong influence of dopamine.

5. Pursuance

Some hobbies and interests deepen with time because dopamine release stays constant and there is an association of purpose created by your brain.

So you get evolved in some activities and skills with time, while some you leave behind.

So what part of the brain does all this?

Well, the entire brain is involved, because it is an intricate job.

But still, the frontal lobe deserves a little more credit — to keep you going at one thing, to feel fascinated, to stay focused, and to pay attention.

Another wonderful thing

Your brain creates a beautiful, intricate neural connection to mark the thing you just tried.

And multiple brain areas light up when you go for it again some other time!

So it’s basically fireworks within you when you do something you like or find something fascinating.

Now the second question: How do I get to know what I am interested in?

Try everything.

Your brain is definitely smart enough to figure it out with time.

And also people — you need to be a little self-aware, close enough to yourself, so that you know what you are feeling.

So yeah, this was another part of exploring neuroscience, my way.

Dear ones, let your brain try everything and choose what it wants to pursue.

Come on! 

"Your interest isn’t random. It’s your brain leaving clues about who you are meant to become."


_Shrutika V. Patankar ©️


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