pique interest
idiom

- to make someone interested in something and want to know more about it

- if something piques your interest, it makes you curious

The Cambridge Dictionary / Collins Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

The word "pique" has an interesting etymology that traces back to the French language. It is derived from the French verb piquer, which means "to prick" or "to sting." The origins of which can be traced further back to the Old French piquer which also meant "to pierce" or "to stab."

Ultimately, piquer has its roots in the Latin word piccare, which also meant "to prick" or "to puncture”.

Over time, the phrase "pique interest" became a common expression in English to describe the act of arousing or stimulating someone's interest or curiosity.

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INTEREST PIQUED = ENHANCED MEMORY

A 2014 study published in the journal "Neuron" found that people are better at remembering information that they are genuinely curious about.

The study, titled “States of Curiosity Modulate Hippocampus-Dependent Learning via the Dopaminergic Circuit” (Center for Neuroscience at the University of California), found that not only does curiosity make learning about a particular subject more effective, but it also enhances memory for unrelated information learned at the same time.

The reason behind this is likely associated with the dopamine system in our brains, which regulates the sensation of pleasure and reward. When we're curious, this system gets activated, making learning and memory formation more effective.

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SYNONYMS

- curiosity, a strong desire to know or learn something

allure, anticipation, appetite, ardour, attraction to, captivation, desire for knowledge, drawn to, engrossed in, engrossment, enthusiastic about, enthusiasm, entranced by, excited about, excitement, exploration, fascinated by, fascination, feel a pull towards, fervid about, fervour, fixation, gripped by, have a thing about, have a yen for, hooked on, inquiring mind, inquisitive about, inquisitiveness, interest, intrigued by, itch to know, itching for, love of learning, lust for learning, obsessed with, passionate about, PIQUE INTEREST, preoccupied with, preoccupation, probing mind, questioning mind, spirit of inquiry, taken with, thirst (for knowledge), thirsting for, wonder, wrapped up in, zest (for), zealous (for), zealousness

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“My INTEREST WAS PIQUED by today’s OWAD!”

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