Curious Babies

A Moment of Science · Feb 10, 2026 · 2m

Curiosity killed the cat, but there’s no indication that it has the same effect on humans.

Curiosity in babies helps them learn about the world and might even predict future cognitive abilities. That’s why scientists wanted to know whether moments of curiosity that babies exhibit are random variations, or whether they indicate a characteristic of the particular baby that carries into their later years.

A common method for studying infant cognition is showing a baby a normal object that acts in an unexpected, or “magical,” way, such as a ball hovering in midair or passing through a wall. A…